United States cricket team
From Freepedia
Cricket was established in the USA in the eighteenth century. George Washington was an avid follower of the sport. Indeed, John Adams even stated in the U.S. Congress in the 1780s that if leaders of cricket clubs could be called "presidents", there was no reason why the leader of the new nation could not be called the same.
The USA played the first ever international cricket matches, against Canada in the 1840s in Bloomingdale Park, New York. Yet the USA did not develop into a cricket playing nation - with baseball taking prominence during and after the American Civil War.
Cricket then continued as a minor pastime, but became more popular in the 1970s as immigrants from the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent played the sport. The main areas where cricket is now played are in New York, California around Los Angeles and San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Florida, though it is played in all fifty states.
Cricket in the USA developed even more by 2004, with them participating in the first ICC Intercontinental Cup, which saw them play first class cricket against Canada and Bermuda; and with it winning the ICC Six Nations Challenge, albeit on the most narrow of margins - beating Scotland, Namibia, the Netherlands and the UAE on net run rate by 0.028 of a run.
A professional league known as Pro Cricket was started in 2004, playing 20-over-a-side games with five-ball overs (ie 100 balls per innings). This did not enjoy the support of the USA Cricket Association that is recognised by the ICC.
Winning the ICC Six Nations meant that they qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy 2004 in England. Here the USA played their first ever one-day international match against New Zealand at The Oval on 10 September 2004. Although the USA won the toss it was all downhill from there, the side being completely shown up by the New Zealanders, with several records broken, and subsequently also by Australia, the world champions. While some frailties were obvious, a more fundamental problem was the average age of the team - over thirty-five. This boded ill for success in the near future, as was shortly to be demonstrated.
The 2005 ICC Trophy represented a chance for the USA to re-establish themselves on the world stage and qualify for the 2007 World Cup. However, a disastrous campaign saw them finish bottom of their group, with four losses and a washout from their five group matches. This failure robbed the USA of the prize of full One-Day International status on offer to the World Cup qualifiers.
On 9 August 2005 the ICC dealt American cricket a further blow by expelling the USA from the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup after running out of patience with the inability of the USA Cricket Association and the Council of League Presidents to agree on team selection. The USA's place in the competition will be taken by the Cayman Islands. This decision, and the ICC's determination not to allow the USA back into the fold until the internal dispute is over, means that the USA team is likely to be without serious representative cricket for some considerable time.
The USA intends to develop its cricket further by introducing it into schools. Currently, pupils not selected for baseball teams have no ball game to play. The idea is that going forward, these pupils will play cricket. Pilot schemes have already started in Texas.
Related Links
- The Decline and Fall of cricket in the United States (from Cricinfo)
- ICC expels USA from 2005 Intercontinental Cup (from Cricinfo)
- Official Website of the United States of America Cricket Association
- US Cricket portal
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