Major League Cricket’s Washington Freedom celebrate their title win in 2024
There’s a famous Pub Quiz question which asks which two teams competed in the inaugural international cricket match. Surprisingly, the answer is United States versus Canada (in 1844). So what happened to cricket in North America in the subsequent years, and how did baseball come to overtake it in popularity in that part of the world?
It is said that it was in part a victim of the US Civil War (1861 to 1865) and was by this time seen as a gentlemen’s game rather than the blue collar game which baseball was to become.
Once the Imperial Cricket Conference was formed in 1909 comprising Australia, England and South Africa it was said that the next team in the world were the Gentlemen of Philadelphia – but they were not, of course, an international team and time marched on with other countries joining what became the International Cricket Council and cricket waning in popularity in North America.
With the commencement of Twenty20 (T20) Cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2003 and the Indian Premier League in 2008, franchise competitions around the world have given opportunities for the best cricketers to be seen (and rewarded) outside their home countries.
In 2023, Major League Cricket began in the USA comprising six teams: Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom with matches held at just two venues: Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas (capacity 7,200) and Morrisville, North Carolina (capacity 3,500).
While there are plans to build new or renovate existing venues the question remains about why, to date, cricket has never caught on sufficiently in North America especially given the huge popularity of baseball.
I have always thought that had history been different, T20 cricket in particular would be an ideal product for the North American Sports market. My rationale for this is that the other main North America sports (NFL and NBA) tend to be high scoring whilst a MLB game which lasts a similar length of time to a T20 match could potentially finish 1-0, while the latter can produce over 200 runs.
However, cricket in North America is seemingly always going to be a poor relative and competitor to baseball and additionally has the issues of all minority sports including the lack of adequate facilities, coaching, and marketing.
Where in the US children seem to grow up with a ball and glove in much the same way as UK kids do with a football – cricket equipment is expensive and the techniques are complicated in comparison with the hitting and throwing of a baseball.
Interestingly, the USA have recently entered a team in the Under 19 T20 Cricket World Cup having previously participated in the 2006 and 2010 tournaments. Hopefully, any success that the team has will have a positive impact on the prospects of the game in North America and help the game to grow in popularity by complementing rather than competing with baseball.
Article by Steve Boyde. Fancy writing for us? Get in touch here!
Featured image of the Washington Freedom by MLC.
