Cricket in the United States

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Cricket in the United States
CountryUnited States
Governing bodyUSA Cricket
National team(s)United States
First playedbefore 1700
National competitions

Cricket in the United States is a sport played at the amateur, club, intercollegiate and international competition levels with little popularity, with 200,000 players (<1% of the population) across the country.[1] Minor League Cricket is the highest level of domestic T20 cricket currently played in America, with T20 being the format of the game that much of the recent growth in American cricket is occurring in.[2]

History[]

Main article: History of United States cricket
The Belmont Cricket Club in 1905.

Cricket was played by British colonists in North America by the start of the 18th century.[3] Archived references to cricket played in America date from 1709. A New York newspaper from 1739 contains an advertisement for cricket players and the first documented competition occurred in 1751 in Manhattan.[4] According to William Byrd II's diary, cricket was played on the slave plantations of Virginia, including on his Westover estate among neighbors and slaves.[5] By 1793, Dartmouth College students were playing cricket on the Green.[6]

Philadelphia was the crucible of North American cricket and remains so today.[7] Haverford College formed a cricket team in 1833, generally accepted as the first cricket club exclusively for Americans.[8] Haverford and the University of Pennsylvania formed a strong rivalry, with the first match played on May 7, 1864, believed to be start of the third-oldest intercollegiate sporting contest in America, after the 1852 Harvard-Yale crew and 1859 Amherst-Williams baseball matches.[9] Haverford and Penn then proceeded to play each other for three consecutive years until 1869, when the Haverford faculty banned cricket away from their college grounds.[10] From 1875 and through 1880, Haverford College, Columbia College and University of Pennsylvania fielded a varsity elevens, which played a few matches each year against each other and other club teams.[11]

In 1881, Penn, Harvard College, Haverford College, Princeton College (then known as College of New Jersey), and Columbia College formed The Intercollegiate Cricket Association,[12] which Cornell University later joined.[13] During the 44 years that The Intercollegiate Cricket Association existed (1881 through 1924) Penn won The Intercollegiate Cricket Association championship (the de facto national championship) 23 times (3 shared with Haverford and Harvard, 1 shared with Haverford and Cornell, and 1 shared with just Haverford), Haverford won such championship 19 times (3 shared with Penn and Harvard, 1 shared with Penn and Cornell, and 1 shared with Penn), and Harvard won it 6 times, none after 1899 (3 shared with Haverford and Penn)) accessed April 18, 2021.[14][circular reference][15]

In July of 1895 an international cricket match between Canada and the United States was played on the Manheim grounds in Germantown section of Philadelphia with six of the United States team being Penn student athletes and, in September of that year, past and then current members of Penn's varsity cricket team played past and then current members of the English cricket teams of Oxford and Cambridge resulting in Penn defeating the Oxford-Cambridge team by one hundred runs.[16] This was not surprising as in the last two and a half decades of the 19th century and first decade of the 20th century, Philadelphia was the center of cricket in the United States[17] Cricket had gained in popularity among the upper class from their travels abroad and cricket clubs sprung up all across the Eastern Seaboard (even today Philadelphia still has three cricket clubs: the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Merion Cricket Club and the Germantown Cricket Club).

The eleven-person team cricket familiar with Americans today took root most effectively at the St. George's Cricket Club, founded in 1838.[5] Clubs from the United States (St. George's CC) and Canada participated in one of the first international cricket matches on record in 1844 in Bloomingdale Park in Manhattan.[18][19] Cricket received a significant amount of media coverage at the time. In the mid-19th century, the sport was played in approximately 125 cities in 22 states. Roughly 500 officially established clubs existed and it is probable that in 1860 there were 10,000 boys and men in America who had actively played the sport for at least a season.[4]

St. George's CC employed Sheffield native Samuel Wright as its professional cricket playing groundsman. Wright's two sons, Harry and George, played for the United States XXII against the All England XI in 1859 in New York and Philadelphia.[20] Both Wright brothers became renowned in baseball circles after they played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, America's first professional baseball team.[20] English cricket teams toured American regularly. Richard Daft's England side visited in 1869, when they played in New York and Philadelphia. Then with the spread of cricket to Boston, Lord Hawke's England XI played George Wright's New England Cricket XI at the Longwood Country Club in Boston. On the same tour in 1891 Lord Hawke's XI defeated a Germantown CC XI in Philadelphia, which included George Patterson, regarded as America's best batsman, with several centuries to his credit. George Patterson – referred to as America's W.G. Grace – was an American-born cricketer and lawyer by profession, described as brilliant under pressure when facing first-class English sides.[20]

In 2004 Pro Cricket was organized as a professional Twenty20 format league with eight teams in two divisions. However, the league closed at the end of its first season in 2004. The Pro Cricket league was independent of the USACA and not recognized or sanctioned by it. Among post-secondary institutions, in recent years Haverford College is one of the few to field a cricket team at the varsity level.

Organization of cricket in the United States[]

International cricket[]

Main article: United States national cricket team
Main article: United States national women's cricket team

International Cricket in America was virtually nonexistent until recently[when?] when the United States national cricket team started playing in the World Cricket League.[citation needed] Cricket in the United States was run by the United States of America Cricket Association until 2017. Their effectiveness was lessened by infighting, and limited funds due to cricket's lack of popularity compared to other sports. Since 2019, USA Cricket has run the game in the USA. The United States cricket team is currently[when?] unranked in Test cricket.

Domestic competitions[]

Major League Cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket sanctioned by USA Cricket, the national governing body for cricket. A developmental league, Minor League Cricket is currently being played. In addition, the following competitions are played:

  • National Cricket League (NCL) - NCL successfully staged the historical event first-time State-vs-state T20 National Cricket Championship in the United States at Milwaukee during July 4–7, 2019. Teams from eight different states (FL, GA, IL, MI, MN, PA, TX, and WI) participated in the Tournament. Atlanta Fire bagged the Championship by beating Michigan Stars. Several international and US national cricket team players played in the Tournament, too. By all accounts, the Tournament was a runaway success. NCL has announced to host the 2nd NCL Tournament during July 2–5, 2020 in Milwaukee, WI, but was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[citation needed]
  • Amateur City Leagues - Many of the biggest cities in the United States, such as Detroit, have their own amateur cricket league. One of the biggest leagues is the Detroit Cricket League with 30 different teams playing in metropolitan Detroit.[citation needed]
  • Pro Cricket – The first professional cricket league in the United States. It was operated by American Pro Cricket LLC (APC), a private company independent of the ICC and the USACA. The league was formed in 2004 as one of several independent efforts by different organizations to develop and promote cricket in the United States. The league folded after one season due to low attendance and the cancellation of the league's TV deal.
  • American Twenty20 Championship – Twenty20 cricket tournament aimed at grooming American cricket players for international events and to spread interest in the U.S. Its first and only season was a three-day event in 2011, consisting of a tournament played in New Jersey,[21] which was won by the Atlantic Division. The tournament was supported by the USACA.
  • American Premier League - A proposed venture by the USACA, later in partnership with New Zealand Cricket, to form a domestic T20 league in the U.S., patterned after competitions such as the Indian Premier League. It was announced in 2009, but never[22][23]
  • TANA Premier League - The Telugu Association of North America, or TANA, administers a cricket tournament across the United States, the most recent being in that of May 2015 in Detroit, Michigan. In July 2015, several actors and actresses from the Telugu film industry, or Tollywood, will be journeying to Detroit to play against the champions of the TANA Premier League Cup.[citation needed]
  • NECA League[citation needed]
  • Major League Cricket (original) - Organization that intended to form a Twenty20 league in 2007 and host an under-15 tournament in 2005, but neither were realized. The organization hosted a National Interstate Cricket Cup tournament in Florida in 2005. MLC began in 2000 and attempted to rival the USACA during the U.S. cricketing tumult of 2004-2006.[citation needed]

New England Cricket Association Inc. (NECA) is a "not for profit" sports organization dedicated to promote Hard Tennis Ball T20 Cricket in Boston's Metro West area. NECA provides the framework for teams interested in playing friendly and organized Hard Tennis Ball Cricket. NECA has operated as a friendly social organization of Cricket lovers since 2003 and was officially incorporated in 2018 in the Common Wealth of Massachusetts. NECA is run on a purely volunteer basis and is governed by the board of elected senior members.

Since its inception in 2003, NECA has grown from just a few teams to 32 teams across three divisions in 2017, and continues to grow in size with the interest for Cricket in the rise in New England.[citation needed]

Cricket grounds[]

Main article: List of cricket grounds in the United States
Students playing cricket at Dartmouth College in 1793

There are only a few purpose-built cricket grounds in the United States, they include the Germantown Cricket Club Ground and the Philadelphia Cricket Club Ground[24] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Randolph St. George Walker Park on Staten Island, New York; the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida; and the Leo Magnus Cricket Complex in Van Nuys, California.

The Indianapolis World Sports Park in Indianapolis, Indiana, which features cricket grounds, was completed in 2014, and hosted the USACA's national championship that year.[25]

The game is also played on a number of shared purpose venues, they include Van Cortlandt Stadium in Bronx, New York and others.

The main cricket grounds in the USA include:

The AirHogs Stadium in Texas is to be converted into a cricket stadium that will be used by the Dallas franchise of the upcoming Major League Cricket competition.

Governing body[]

Main article: USA Cricket

The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) is the former governing body for International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned cricket in the United States. The ICC recognized the USACA as an associate member starting in 1965. In 2005 the USACA was suspended from an ICC sponsored annual conference due to problems with USACA elections, but that suspension was lifted in March 2006.[26] In 2007 the USACA was again suspended by the ICC because of problems with its administration and constitution, but was again recognized beginning on April 1, 2008.[26] It was again suspended in 2015.

The national association organizes play within and between seven regional conferences,[27] which may contain several leagues. A league is a group of 8 or more teams that play according to a schedule.[28] Competition is held at various age levels including under-19, under-15, senior, etc. The USACA holds a National Senior Tournament as well as national and international competitions for other age groups.

USACA was expelled in late 2017 and replaced by USA Cricket as the governing body of ICC-sanctioned cricket in the United States.

Cricket in American culture[]

A Sri Lankan-American child playing cricket in the US state of Virginia.

In 2006 it was estimated that 30,000 people in the United States play or watch cricket annually.[7] By 2017, this figure had risen to 200,000 people playing cricket in 6,000 teams.[29] Cricket in the United States is not as popular as baseball and is not as popular among as large a fraction of the population as it is within either the Commonwealth nations or the other ICC full member (or Test cricket) nations.[30] There are at least two historical reasons for the relative obscurity of cricket within the United States. One reason was the 19th-century-rise of the summer time bat and ball sport now called baseball, which has displaced cricket as a popular pastime.[30] Another reason was that in 1909 when the ICC was originally organized as the Imperial Cricket Conference it was open only to Commonwealth nations and thereby excluded the US from participating in the sport at the highest level.[31]

Nevertheless, in 1965 the US was admitted to the renamed ICC as an associate member and the sport grew in popularity in the second half of the 20th century. An oft mentioned reason for the growing popularity of cricket is the growing population of immigrants to the US who come from cricket playing nations.[7][30]

With the launching of the United States Youth Cricket Association in 2010, a more focused effort to bring the game to American schools was begun, with the intention of broadening cricket's fan base beyond expatriates and their children.[32] In addition, USA Cricket has begun offering various championship tournaments for youth cricketers, such as the MLC Jr. Championship.[33]

ESPN has been stepping up its coverage of cricket in recent years, buying the cricket website Cricinfo in 2007, and broadcasting the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 competition, the 2014 Indian Premier League, English County Championship games, and international Test cricket.[34]

Today, cricket in the United States is mostly played by those with heritage in countries where cricket is popular, such as Indian Americans among others. Despite its lack of popularity, it is not uncommon to find clubs with a long history and a lineage dating back to the early 20th century.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "About Domestic Cricket". USA Cricket. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  2. ^ "Strategy". USA Cricket. Retrieved August 18, 2021. [USA Cricket] will seek to position Twenty20 cricket at the center of our plans and will set up our domestic structure and design our key initiatives and activities accordingly.
  3. ^ Das, Deb K. "Cricket in the USA". Cricinfo. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Malcolm, Dominic (2013). Globalizing Cricket. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 63–64.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Kirsch, George. The Rise of American Team Sports.
  6. ^ "History of American cricket Part I – The 1700s". Dreamcricket USA. August 14, 2007. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Worrall, Simon (October 2006). "Cricket, Anyone?". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  8. ^ Murdoch, Joseph (n.d.). "Philadelphia Cricket Club View Library Document: History". Philadelphia Cricket Club. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved March 30, 2007.
  9. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20180723200322/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/cricket/1864.html and https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/10/penn-cricket-team-historical-feature both accessed April 17, 2021
  10. ^ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015062223006&view=1up&seq=10 (accessed March 4, 2021)
  11. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20180723184343/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/cricket/histy.html accessed April 17, 2021
  12. ^ https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/10/penn-cricket-team-historical-feature accessed April 17, 2021
  13. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20180723200322/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/cricket/1864.html accessed April 17, 2021
  14. ^ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercollegiate_sports_team_champions#Cricket
  15. ^ Seth S. Tannenbaum and Clifton R. Hood (February 2006). "Penn Cricket in the 1800s: Penn's first organized sport: Historical overview". University Archives and Records Center. University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  16. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20180723200322/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/cricket/1864.html accessed April 17, 2021
  17. ^ https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AThe_land_of_contrasts_-_a_Briton%27s_view_of_his_American_kin_%28IA_cu31924028684805%29.pdf&page=1 see page 110 of 'The land of contrasts - a Briton's view of his American kin'
  18. ^ Williamson, Martin. "The oldest international contest of them all". Cricinfo. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  19. ^ Marder, John (1968). A History of International Games between Canada and the United States. London, UK: John Wiley &Co.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sentance, P. David (2006). Cricket in America 1709-2000. North Carolina, USA: MacFarland.
  21. ^ "USA Cricket: Twenty20 Nationals moved from Dallas to NJ; 20 players invited to USA U-19 trials in NY". dreamcricket.com. May 25, 2011. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012.
  22. ^ Lord, Richard (October 17, 2011). "Cricket in U.S. Suffers Key Flaw: It's Not Baseball". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  23. ^ "USA Cricket inks historic commercial deal with New Zealand Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. December 18, 2010. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
  24. ^ "Other Activities at PCC". Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
  25. ^ "ICC President Alan Isaac Visits Indianapolis World Sports Park". NewYorkCricket.com. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b "ICC suspends USA Cricket Association". Cricinfo. March 3, 2007. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  27. ^ "Regions of USACA". Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  28. ^ "Registration Info". United States of America Cricket Association. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  29. ^ "American cricket gets ready for take-off". BBC News. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b c Chetwynd, Josh. "Cricket, anyone? Obvious similarities make baseball, cricket sibling sports". Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  31. ^ "International Cricket Council – The ICC – About The Organisation – History". Archived from the original on July 6, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  32. ^ Della Penna, Peter. "Have Kit, Will Play". Cricinfo. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  33. ^ Dunmore, Tom. "Youth Cricketers to benefit from the new pathways created by MLC". Major League Cricket. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  34. ^ Pengelly, Martin (April 13, 2014). "Why America will learn to love cricket". theguardian.com. Retrieved April 13, 2014.

[1]

  1. ^ "History - USA Cricket". USA Cricket. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
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