Add taxpayer-funded cricket fields to the list of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's achievements in office.

Wu cut the ribbon last week on new cricket fields at Harambee Park in Dorchester, celebrating $2.4 million in taxpayer funding going towards fields for a sport not played by most Bostonians.

The money went toward two fields — one competition field with lighting and one practice field — along with bleacher seating, pathways, and pedestrian lighting.

“Transforming our city parks into engaging, community spaces has been a powerful driver in creating vibrant connections and welcoming spaces for everyone to enjoy,” Wu said in a press release. “Harambee Park has long been a space for all communities to come together and I'm grateful to continue to witness it thrive.”

The fields are the latest in a series of upgrades at the 45-acre park, formerly known as Franklin Field. Since 2018, the city has spent more than $13 million there on phased projects that have included new playgrounds, basketball courts, multipurpose fields, and an amphitheater space.

“When we create spaces like this for our city's cricket players, it shows we're committed to ensuring all of our Boston athletes — no matter the sport — have a place to play in the city,” Boston city councilor Brian Worrell (D-Mattapan) said. “Our Caribbean community's talents are on display daily in Boston, but their strength knows no boundaries on the cricket pitch in Harambee Park.”

Cricket is not widely played in Massachusetts, though the mayor's office said the sport has been played at the field for over 100 years; its press release included a photo of a cricket game at Harambee Park in 1905.

“Harambee Park has been home to cricket for over a century, and today we’re proud to carry that tradition forward with the completion of these brand-new competition and practice fields,” interim Boston Parks commissioner Cathy Baker-Eclipse said in the press release. “We’re grateful to our community partners, especially the Conway Cricket Club and Caricom Cricket Club, for their advocacy and guidance throughout this project.”

The city said the project included $170,000 for design and $2.23 million for construction, funded through Boston’s five-year capital plan.

Cricket players welcomed the spending.

“Cricket is more than a game,” Kevin Fagan of Caricom Cricket Club said in the press release. “It's a classroom where young minds learn discipline, patience, and the courage to rise after every fall.”

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that originated in England and spread to many of the British colonies. Today it is most popular in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, and South Africa, and in the Caribbean.

A cricket match features two teams of eleven players. One team bats while the other fields. The bowler delivers the ball to the batsman, who tries to score runs by hitting the ball and running between two sets of wickets placed on a rectangular pitch. Fielders try to catch the ball or hit the wickets to get the batsman out.

Unlike baseball, which was derived in part from cricket but is simplified for faster play, cricket matches can last far longer. Traditional test matches last up to five days, while shorter formats are designed to be completed in about three hours.

Though cricket has reportedly been played at Harambee Park for more than a century, it has never gained much traction in the United States. It remains mostly confined to immigrant communities from countries where the game is popular.

Harambee Park, formerly known as Franklin Field, is a 50-acre recreation area in Dorchester with athletic fields, playgrounds, and community space. It was renamed in the 1980s, with “harambee” meaning “all pull together” in Swahili. The park is sometimes confused with Franklin Park, which is about a mile away. Franklin Park is nearly ten times larger, at 485 acres, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and includes the Franklin Park Zoo, a golf course, trails, and wide open green space.

A spokesman for Mayor Michelle Wu’s office told NewBostonPost it did not have data on how many people in Boston play cricket, including at Harambee Park, and how popular the game is compared to other sports.