CRICKET HAS A NEW DESTINATION

The season of cricket has arrived in the U.S. The sport, which is followed by 2.5 billion people across the world, is still in its infant stages but there are signs of its potential in the U.S. in the next two decades.

Historically, Cricket was among the more popular sports in America in the mid-19th century, but baseball's rapid expansion came at the expense of cricket. Cricket lost to the choice of promoting a sport.  When a sense of American national identity began to emerge in the decades following the Civil War, along with new communication and transportation technologies, baseball promoters recognized an opportunity. They joined together some of the existing travelling clubs into a league, so young athletes and fans flocked to the unified league. Cricket clubs, by contrast, stayed regional and let the historical moment slip. Many of the top players switched to baseball, and the fans went with them. Cricket did maintain a significant following through the early 20th century in some regions.

Baseball and cricket were too similar to coexist on the main stage. There were many similarities in both sports like, pitchers, batters, and fielders. Top athletes moved easily between the two sports and, when baseball became more lucrative, many of them left cricket permanently. Travelling baseball teams even played series against cricket clubs, alternating between the two games. Baseball's melting-pot culture was another advantage the sport had over cricket. Cricket was the game Anglo-Americans played to keep their heritage alive.

Today, there are periodic reports of an American cricket revival, and foreign promoters trying to grab a significant position in the U .S. market. The reason cricket is picking up in the Midwest and in the U.S. is firstly because there are a large number of Asian immigrants with a passion to spread awareness about the sport and secondly the International Cricket Committee (ICC)—the international governing body for cricket– is trying to promote the sport by hosting international tournaments here. In countries like India, England and Australia, you would know that cricket is about the big sports story on many days. So, it is not surprising that the 12 million Asian immigrants in the U.S. now are trying to promote the game by playing at recreational league levels.

ICC is pushing to introduce competitive cricket at high school and college levels in the Midwest and the U.S. They recently met with heads of cricket leagues to start the process. They also are pushing to qualify Team USA for the 2019 World Cup, 2020 World T20 and 2024 World T20. There is a long way to go before cricket is considered a mainstream sport in the U.S. but there is hope that in the next couple decades, it makes headway. If soccer can break through the big U.S. sports wall, so can cricket.