THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
For the majority of Americans, the only bat and ball game worthy of media coverage is Baseball. For decades it’s been classed as America's favorite pastime, but there is another one that they may have to consider more seriously when the 'other' sport that uses similar basic equipment takes center stage soon.
Cricket has a huge worldwide following, but mostly it's centralized in the locations it's played. Australia, India, England, Pakistan and South Africa are the real hotbeds of participation, and their surrounding countries also have huge interest in playing and spectating. For example, from a standing start in 1995 cricket has become arguably the most popular sport in Afghanistan, especially along the Pakistan border, and the country is now a full member of the International Cricket Council and entitled to participate in international Test matches.
It's an easy game to pick up and play and you will find many youngsters in the streets with a makeshift ball, and wickets made up with something vaguely resembling stumps. Not least of all in the West Indies, another region where cricket is a culture, not just a sport.
When the USA gets involved in a sport it usually does very well. Soccer is the truly global game, and while the men's team has yet to break into the overseas market with a dramatic impact, MLS is now acknowledged as a worthy league and American players are now dotted across the best leagues in Europe. The USA will also be the hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, along with Canada and Mexico.
This is where cricket comes into play as, in June 2024, a major international tournament will be played in the United States for the first time, along with co-hosts the West Indies. The short format of the game, T20, has been a revelation for the game. It's quick, fun, and perfect as a late afternoon-early evening spectacle. Also, each game is guaranteed a winning outcome, something that the long form of the game doesn’t always produce, even after five days' play! For all these reasons it's ideally suited to an American audience.
The world’s elite players will participate in an expanded tournament with 20 teams set to take part, with 12 automatically qualifying, and a further 8 from regional play-in tournaments. As hosts, the USA and West Indies will qualify as part of the first 12.
With this in mind there are lofty plans ahead for the future of the game in the United States, and a huge cash injection of well over $100m to build better facilities and upgrade existing stadiums. With Major League Cricket due to launch in 2023, a fully sanctioned league for T20, “This array of venue developments in areas with significant cricket-passionate communities comes as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has identified the United States as its primary target market to expand the game with the award of co-hosting rights to the 2021 T20 Men’s World Cup,” said Sameer Mehta, a co-founder of the soon to be realized Major League Cricket. “The MLC is committed to supporting that vision alongside its long-term partner USA Cricket, and we’re excited to work together to transform the landscape for cricket to rapidly develop across the country with this infrastructure investment,” he added.
And it's not just the men. The United States Women’s National Team has strong representation on show at the ground-breaking Fairbreak Invitational Women’s Cricket T20 tournament, currently being staged in Dubai from May 1-15. Four Team USA Players - Geetika Kodali, Sindhu Sriharsha, Tara Norris and Shebani Bhaskar - are taking part in various teams alongside Julia Price, USA Women’s Head Coach, and Julie Abbott, USA Women’s Cricket Coordinator, who are coach & manager for one of the participating franchises.
Cricket is not a new sport in the USA. It has been played there since being introduced to the world in the early 1800s, with its first full international being played in 1844, and many teams from England toured across the USA in the decades after. When baseball started to come to prominence, participation in cricket started to decline. The sport has been in various forms of flux since then, but with the plans set in place that have the ICC excited over what the future holds, this is a good chance for new a new generation of players and fans to get involved. For now, the US men's team is gearing up for a qualification series in July for this year's T20 World Cup. They will need to get past Hong Kong, Jersey, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Uganda and the hosts of the qualifiers, Zimbabwe. If they get through, the USA will travel to Australia for the T20 World Cup itself, which is taking place in October 2022.
It's a tall order, but this once-again emerging nation on the cricket scene will find pride, and a bright future awaits.
