British Marines 'invade' New York for a cricket match

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - A bit of a British invasion took place in one of the five boroughs on Wednesday when the Staten Island Cricket Club hosted the Royal Marines for a friendly cricket match.

"We are very excited to have the Marines here—the Royal Marines," said Clarence Modeste, a member of the U.S. Cricket Hall of Fame. "It's the first time we are hosting a first full team from a branch of the military from England."

Modeste, the president of the Staten Island Cricket Club, said the club has operated since 1872, which makes it the longest-running cricket club in the country.

"I love it out here and everyone that comes over to America absolutely loves their time," Cpl. Alan Jackson of the Royal Marines said. "So we're absolutely stoked to be out here."

Unlike the five-day test matches the sport is notorious for, the club played Twenty20, which is a much shorter version of the game. Each match lasts only three hours—a manageable time frame for Americans' notoriously short attention span.