The mid-western US city best known for one of the world's top motor races is preparing for a proper game of cricket - the sport most Americans know only from British films.

Indianapolis is spending six million dollars (£3.9 million) to equip one of its parks with a premier cricket field, as well as space for Gaelic football, rugby, hurling and other sports mainly popular overseas.

Mayor Greg Ballard hopes his World Sports Park project brings international exposure and helps local companies attract talented overseas workers by offering them a home for their favourite games.

"These are global sports and they'll give us more visibility in the global marketplace," Mr Ballard said.

Cities across the US are jockeying for any advantage to boost economic development, and sports is an easy target.

Professional sports teams pump millions of dollars into local economies in the cities that host them.

Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing expert at San Francisco's Baker Street Advertising, said targeting a sport which most Americans are not familiar with is a gamble.

"How do you sell it to a public who really doesn't understand it? To me cricket is a fairly mystifying sport," Mr Dorfman said.

Indianapolis - which hosts the famous Indianapolis 500 race - has already signed a three-year deal to host a US amateur cricket tournament and championship, starting in August 2014.

"When people around the world think of cricket, I want them to think of Indianapolis," he told reporters in India during a trade visit in April.

Some local politicians have criticised Mr Ballard for the project at a time when the city faces a 50 million dollar (£32.8 million) budget deficit.

Cricket supporters insist Mr Ballard's vision can become a reality.

Darren Beazley, the chief executive of the United States of America Cricket Association, said there are currently 50 cricket leagues with 1,108 teams in the US, and that about 30,000 Americans - mostly immigrants from former British colonies - play cricket, which he said is the world's second-most popular sport after football.

Mr Beazley said his group hopes to double the nation's pool of cricket players within five years, in part by demonstrating the sport to schoolchildren, much as football was popularised a few decades ago.

Jatin Patel, Indian-born president of the Indiana Youth Cricket Association, said students in about 240 Indiana schools have been shown the basics of the sport since his Indianapolis-based group began an outreach programme in 2010.

Indianapolis is not the first US city to try to tap into the sport's overseas popularity. Lauderhill, Florida, opened a five million dollar (£3.28 million) cricket stadium in 2007 which is the only US cricket venue certified by the International Cricket Council.

Indianapolis hopes its cricket field will become the nation's second certified by the Dubai-based group.

Although Lauderhill's venue has attracted international games, it has been plagued by a lack of income and marquee events.