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.