How cricket is hoping to (again) be an American pastime

Over three days in September 1844, cricket teams from Canada and the U.S. met on a pitch in Manhattan in the first international match of any modern sport. Canada won by 23 runs. 

Though the U.S. would continue to host international matches, cricket, which has been played in America since the founding, slowly gave way to baseball, football and basketball as national pastimes.

That’s set to change if cricket’s national governing body, has its way. In 30 pages published this fall, USA Cricket maps out a plan for establishing what the group calls “a platform for American cricket.”

“We want to make cricket a leading sport in the USA,” Ian Higgins, the chief executive of USA Cricket, told the BBC recently. “On the global stage we want U.S. cricket to be established as a member of the International Cricket Council by 2030. We really want to see growth in both areas, domestically and internationally.”

Over the next three years, the group aims to spur engagement, starting with the between 10 and 20 million people who either play or watch cricket in the U.S. already, according to Higgins, who joined USA Cricket last year after working for 10 years at the ICC. “We need to find ways to provide more content to them, to allow them to connect with the game or to engage more with the game and to engage more with the teams that we’re building.”

In addition to adding to attendance at matches and viewership via broadcast and social media, USA Cricket is working to increase the number of Americans who play cricket; to attain a ranking by the ICC for all national teams (with full membership in the ICC by 2030); and to earn revenue from a variety of sources, including both the ICC and a commercial partnership.

The partnership, which USA Cricket announced in May 2019 with an investor group known as American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), may hold the most financial promise in the years covered by the plan. The pact calls for ACE to invest $1 billion in the development of a professional “Twenty20” cricket league in the U.S. starting next year.

The new league received a boost with the announcement on Monday that the owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise of the Indian Premier League would make what ACE termed a “a major investment” in the U.S. league, which goes by the handle Major League Cricket (MLC). As part of the pact, the investment group, which also owns a Knight Riders franchise in cricket’s Caribbean Premier League, would contribute its expertise toward the development and launch of MLC.

Financial backing for ACE comes from two duos: Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, who own the cable and streaming service Willow TV (which holds the North American broadcast rights to international cricket); and Vineet Jain, who together with his brother Samir owns The Times of India Group, and Samir’s son-in-law Satyan Gajwani.

Though it remains to be seen how the coronavirus pandemic might impact the timetable for launch of a new league, USA Cricket and ACE recently announced the lease of a 5,400-seat stadium in Dallas that the partners plan to convert into a cricket ground in time to host both major and minor league matches in 2022.

The ground in Texas would join the Central Broward Regional Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida as one of two cricket grounds in the U.S. that can accommodate professional and international matches.  USA Cricket aims to supplement the two grounds with as many as 15 so-called turf pitches, as match-grade cricket grounds are known.

USA Cricket also is looking to the Olympics to help jump start its program. The group is aiming to have cricket recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee, with the goal of securing a spot for cricket among the sports of the Summer Olympics, which are slated to be held in Los Angeles in 2028.

Between now and then, the group will focus on spurring development of scholastic and community-based cricket programs, as well as creating pathways for people to become coaches, official and volunteers. USA Cricket also hopes to stage regional and national tournaments for domestic players.

“We want to increase participation levels,” Higgins adds. “There is no nationwide schools program in this country, for example.” He says that USA Cricket is at work on developing details to guide the group in achieving its targets, adding that the criteria for membership in the ICC could shift by 2030. “The ICC wants to grow the game around the world,” he notes.

I sobbed with joy after England won the World Cup

I did not expect to be crying tears of joy when England won its first Cricket World Cup. But I sat on my sofa, with my eyes watering, minutes after Jos Buttler dived for the stumps to give England the victory.

The emotion came partly from the intensity of watching nearly every ball for nine hours of cricket. But I think it also reflected my affection for this England team.

England celebrates its World Cup win (Photo: EWN)

I appreciated the diversity of the team, which included players from England, Ireland, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Barbados, South Africa and Bangladesh. I marveled at the character displayed by New Zealand, not just on Sunday but throughout the tournament. Maybe I was overcome with sadness that the final ended my first World Cup, which I followed for seven weeks. Maybe I cried from exhaustion.

“I don’t think there will be another like this in the history of cricket,” player of the match Ben Stokes said afterward. I am just learning cricket, but I know he’s right.

Throughout the final, I jotted down moments that seemed to define the match as it unfolded.

  • The six by Stokes with four balls remaining
  • The six by Stokes in the 49th over
  • New Zealand getting Buttler out in the 45th over
  • The catch by Lockie Ferguson to get Eoin Morgan out for the fourth wicket
  • Jonny Bairstow out for the third wicket
  • Jimmy Neesham being caught out, to leave New Zealand 173 for 5

They’re not the moments that turned out to be defining. But they mark my experience of a match that all of us who watched will remember for the rest of our lives.

England captain Morgan, who is from Dublin, was asked if the win reflected the luck of the Irish. “We had Allah with us as well,” he said.

Cricket in Greenwich

Spent the day in Greenwich on Saturday watching a friendly between the host Mad Dogs cricket club and Gentlemen of Philadelphia. 

I sat at the scorer’s table, where the very nice member introduced me to scoring and answered my questions throughout. Afterward, the clubs gathered for a chat and a photo. 

Major League Baseball heads to London. When will cricket come to New York?

This weekend, the Yankees and Red Sox will square off in two games at London Stadium, marking the first Major League Baseball games ever played in Europe. 

It’s the equivalent of two international cricket teams – any two of the teams currently competing in the cricket World Cup, for example – playing a match in the U.S.

That hasn’t happened yet.

But there’s hope. In 1993, baseball staged an exhibition at London’s Oval cricket ground of minor league players from the Red Sox and Mets. In 2015, two teams of retired cricket all-stars played a series of exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Houston.

Meanwhile, cricket merited a single mention in the Times over two days of coverage leading up to Saturday’s game. That’s despite cricket World Cup matches in England this weekend between Sri Lanka and the West Indies, Australia and New Zealand, and England versus India.

“Baseball has staged regular-season games in Mexico, Australia and Japan, but bringing the big leagues to Britain, where cricket is the dominant bat-and-ball sport, will involve some of the typical sights and sounds of baseball, but with a slight Cockney accent,” the Times noted.

Staten Island Cricket Club

Organized cricket has been played in New York City since at least 1838, when the St. George Cricket Club was founded. In 1885, the club relocated to the site of present day Walker Park. I visited on Saturday to watch the Staten Island Cricket Club host the Philadelphia Cricket Club for a 30-over game.

Pickup, after the game

The visit was my first to the Staten Island club. Members welcomed me and invited me to sit at the scorer’s table. Philadelphia batted first, amassing 85 runs. Members of the team took turns keeping score on an app that ran on their iPad.

Staten Island won by seven wickets. It’s first partnership contributed roughly 65 runs, no out, before giving some of their teammates a turn at bat. Members of the Staten Island club kept score in a log book.

Afterward, the club invited me to stay for tea.

Welcome

Cricket arrived in America with British colonists more than 300 years ago. The game has been played here ever since. Yet it barely registers in the popular imagination. A case in point: Though cricket’s world cup is underway this summer in England, the “Scoreboard” that’s printed in the Times each day carries no mention of it.

If America has a pastime, it’s baseball. But cricket has never left. And it’s growing in popularity. A burgeoning population of Americans from South Asia and the Caribbean brings fans and players. In May, USA Cricket, the sport’s governing body, announced a partnership with investors from India to form a professional “Twenty20” league. The announcement follows a series of initiatives in recent years to build cricket stadiums in at least eight U.S. cities.

Promoters of professional cricket in the U.S. point to the precedent of soccer. Major League Soccer played its first game 26 years ago. This year, more than 3.7 million people have attended an MSL game. The cricketers may be onto something.

This blog aims to chronicle the development of professional cricket here in the former colonies. I’m calling it Willow amid Ash. The title refers to the wood that makes the bats used in cricket and baseball, respectively. I hope to get across the richness and fun of cricket. And to document its growth.

I’m a fan of both cricket and baseball. I came to love cricket while living in South Africa. I’ve loved baseball since my father took me to see the Pirates at Forbes Field when I was 6 years old. For me at least, there’s no reason why America can’t have more than one pastime.