Cricket And The United States Of America
"I rose at 6 o’clock and read a chapter in Hebrew. About 10 o’clock Dr Blair, and Major and Captain Harrison came to see us. After I had given them a glass of sack we played cricket. I ate boiled beef for my dinner. Then we played at shooting with arrows…and went to cricket again till dark.”1
William Byrd’s 1709 quote is said to be the earliest reference to cricket in America. Cricket is a sport that, believe it or not, was very popular across the pond. Reportedly, George Washington played a game at Valley Forge.2
The game flourished in American idependence. In 1833, Haverford College in Pennsylvania established what is known as the first cricket club exclusively for Americans.3
The United States and Canada contested the first international cricket match. It was played at St George’s Cricket Club in Bloomingdale, New York, between the 24th and 26th of September 1844. The American team came from Washington DC, Boston, and the capital of American cricket, Philadelphia. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people attended, and $120,000 was wagered throughout a match that the Canadians clinched by twenty-three runs.4
An American or Canadian in 1844 might have thought that cricket would long be a staple in North America. Haverford College played until 1925, touring many English public schools, but the game faded into obscurity from 1905.5 Baseball burst onto the scene and shelved cricket in America. Cricket was quintessentially English; baseball embodied the identity of a younger nation. Like in England, cricket in America was elitist, mainly played by those with the luxury of not having to work. Baseball grew away from the lush and privileged backdrop of country clubs. With less equipment needed to play and a shorter format, the impact of the new game was transformative.
The formation of the Imperial Cricket Council in 1909 hastened the decline of cricket in the U.S. The body (now named the International Cricket Council) only permitted nations inside the British Empire and the Commonwealth to be members. Philadelphia had its cricketing scene uprooted, and its facilities changed to cater for other sports. The game entered its dying embers State-side.6
The Americans were a competitive force. In 1878, 15,000 people in Philadelphia witnessed a local side hold Australia to a draw. Fifteen years later, the Americans beat the Australians. In 1888, the U.S. beat the West Indies in Guyana. These triumphs were not isolated.7
The U.S. was a part of a global cricketing community. As well as games against countries mentioned above, they played Ireland and Bermuda. An England side captained by W.G Grace toured in 1872.8 In 1903, Kent travelled to Philadelphia, and in 1905, on the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) tour to America, a first-class series ended 1-1.9
Sir Don Bradman, his wife, and his compatriots toured the U.S. and Canada in 1932. Bradman and his peers amassed runs and wickets, winning easily against clubs. Famously, the “Don” conversed with American icon Babe Ruth, whose earnings through baseball dwarfed those of any cricketer. Seeing the best in cricket attend a New York Yankee’s game, as Bradman did, could not avert American eyes from an American passion to an English one.10 With no American cricket boom in response to Bradman’s visit, the Australian made history outside the States. In America, baseball exploded with a commercial structure firmly in place.
Abraham Lincoln reportedly watched Chicago play a cricket match against Milwaukee in 1849.11 It is hard to envisage an American president doing the same today.
This is the second edition of A Short Scroll, a shorter article form that features at The Heritage Site.
Simon Worral, The History of Cricket in the United States, Smithsonian Magazine, October 2006, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-cricket-in-the-united-states-132185661/, accessed: 16/1/24
Ibid
Michael Karpyn, Cricket, The Encylopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 2016, https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/cricket/, accessed: 16/1/24
History of cricket in the United States, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cricket_in_the_United_States, accessed: 16/1/24
Greg Kannerstein, Cricket at Haverford College, CC Morris Cricket Library, 1995, Cricket at Haverford College – CCMCL (ccmorris.org), accessed: 16/1/24
Arvind Pennathur, Turning Back Time: Cricket in the USA, The Bastion, 27/3/2018, Turning Back Time: Cricket in the USA | THE BASTION, accessed: 16/1/24
John Marder and Adrian Cole, Cricket in the USA, ESPN cricinfo, 6/10/2006, Cricket in the USA | ESPNcricinfo, accessed: 16/1/24
Arunabha Sengupta, WG Grace caught by a gentleman’s midsection, Cricket Country, 13/12/2017, WG Grace caught by a gentleman’s midsection - Cricket Country, accessed: 16/1/24
Cricket America, Cricket America : History Timeline of USA Cricket, accessed: 16/1/24
Arunabha Sengupta, Cricket in America: Don Bradman Meets Babe Ruth, Cricket Country, 26/6/16, accessed: 16/1/24
Simon Worral, The History of Cricket in the United States
I had no idea!