UNITED STATES NATIONAL CRICKET TEAM

The 'United States national cricket team' is the team that represents the United States of America in international cricket matches. The team became an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1965, although the United States of America Cricket Association is currently suspended by the ICC.

Contents

History

Beginnings

Decline

Philadelphian cricket

Status from 1965

ICC tournament history

USA have never qualified for the World Cup.

★ 2004: First round

★ 2000: 3rd place ★ 2002: Won ★ 2004: Runners up ★ 2006: Division One Runners up

Notes

External links

History

Main articles: History of United States cricket

Beginnings

Cricket was first played in the United States in the eighteenth century.^[1] It is understood from anecdotal evidence that George Washington was a strong supporter of cricket, participating at least one occasion in games of cricket with his troops at Valley Forge during the American Revolution.^[2] John Adams was recorded as saying in Congress 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.^[3]
In 1844, the United States was a player in the first international cricket match. This was played against Canada at the St George's Cricket Club Ground, Bloomingdale Park, New York. Cricinfo - Cricket in the USA This first international sporting event was attended by 20,000 people and established the longest international sporting rivalry in the modern era. Canada Versus United States of America Cricket 1844 St George Cricket Club Ground, Manhattan, New York Wagers of around $120,000 were placed on the outcome of the match. This is equivalent to around $1.5 million in 2007. Canada Cricket Online
Sides from England toured North America (taking in both the USA and Canada) following the English cricket seasons of 1859, 1868 and 1872. These were organised as purely commercial ventures. Most of the matches of these early touring teams were played "against odds", that is to say the home team was permitted to have more than eleven players (usually twenty-two) in order to make a more even contest.^[4]

Decline

In spite of cricket's popularity in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the game was supplanted by baseball in the 1850s and 1860s. As interest in baseball rose, the rules of that game were changed slightly to increase its popularity. For example, easily manufactured round bats were introduced to contrast the flat bats of cricket. Early Baseball and Cricket in America
Another reason cricket's decline in popularity may be that in the late 1800s American cricket remained an amateur sport reserved for the wealthy while England and Australia were developing a professional version of the game. As cricket standards improved with professionalism elsewhere in the world many North American cricket clubs stayed stubbornly elitist. Clubs such as Philadelphia and Merion abandoned cricket and converted their facilities to other sports. Some city cricket clubs unknowingly contributed to their own demise by sponsoring auxiliary baseball teams. By 1900 baseball had taken over the American scene and created its independent mythology. The formation of the ''Imperial Cricket Conference'' in 1909 also helped to keep the popularity of the game down. It certainly undercut any momentum to professionalize cricket in the USA, although whether the momentum would have developed even in the presence of a more open ICC remains a question. Cricinfo - Cricket in the USA Regardless of its cause, the game did not flourish in the United States the way it did in the British Empire. From the 1880s until the outbreak of World War I, the American game was dominated not by the national side, but by an amateur team from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphian cricket

Main articles: Philadelphian cricket team

The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even though the United States had played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. Cricinfo - Pennsylvania's hidden secret This decline was furthered by the rise in popularity of baseball. In Philadelphia, however, the sport remained very popular and from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I, the city produced a first class team that rivaled many others in the world. The team was composed of players from the four chief cricket clubs in Philadelphia–Germantown, Merion, Belmont, and Philadelphia. Players from smaller clubs, such as Tioga and Moorestown, and local colleges, such as Haverford and Penn, also played for the Philadelphians. Over its 35 years, the team played in 89 first-class cricket matches. Of those, 29 were won, 46 were lost, 13 were drawn and one game was abandoned before completion.^[5]
Arguably, the greatest American cricketer ever played for Philadelphia during this period. John Barton King was a very skilled batsman, but really proved his worth as a bowler. During his career, he set numerous records in North America and at least one first-class bowling record. Everything You Want to Know About Sports (Sports Illustrated for Kids), , John, Rolfe, Bantam Books for Young Readers, 1994, He competed with and succeeded against the best cricketers in the world from England and Australia. King was the dominant bowler on his team when it toured England in 1897, 1903, and 1908. He dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called "the angler", and helped to perfect swing bowling in the sport. Many of the great bowlers of today still use the strategies and techniques that he developed. SABR UK Examiner no.10: Baseball and Cricket: Cross-Currents Sir Pelham Warner described Bart King as one of the finest bowlers of all time, Wisden - 1966 - Obituaries in 1965 and Donald Bradman called him "America's greatest cricketing son." The Art of Cricket, , Donald, Bradman, Robson Books, ,
On 28 June 1913 the Philadelphians played the last first-class game on the mainland for more than 90 years. Games were played in the US Virgin Islands in the interim, which is considered as part of the West Indies by the ICC. The team had played an American national side 6 times between 1885 and 1894. The United States team won one of these matches, lost two, and earned a draw in three. Cricket remained a minor pastime in the United States until the mid-1960s, when ICC reforms allowed associate members to join.

Status from 1965

In 1965, the Imperial Cricket Conference changed its name to the International Cricket Conference. In addition, new rules were adopted to permit the election of countries from outside the Commonwealth. This led to the expansion of the Conference, with the admission of Associate Members, including the United States. A more sustained resurgence in popularity was seen in the 1970s as immigrants from the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent played the sport. Today cricket is played in all fifty states.^[6]
In 2004, the United States cricket team played a first-class match as part of the first ICC Intercontinental Cup. The matches against Canada and Bermuda were the first in many years. The team won the ICC 6 Nations Challenge beating Scotland, Namibia, the Netherlands, and the UAE on net run rate by 0.028 of a run.^[7]
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.^[8] The US side was beaten by New Zealand and lost to Australia in the tournament, as well. ^[9]
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. A poor showing saw them finish at the bottom of their group, with four losses and a match abandoned due to rain from their five group fixtures. This failure robbed the USA of the prize of full One-Day International status on offer to the World Cup qualifiers. This failure was compounded on August 9 2005 when the ICC expelled the USA from the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup. ^[10]
The USA made their return to international cricket in August 2006 when they participated in Division One of the ICC Americas Championship in Canada.^[11] They finished second in the five team tournament.^[12]
In May 2007 the USA were to visit Darwin, Australia to take part in Division Three of the ICC World Cricket League.^[13] A top two finish in this tournament would have qualified them for Division Two of the same tournament later in the year.^[13] Unfortunately, the United States of America Cricket Association was suspended from the ICC and the team was pulled from this competition.^[15]

ICC tournament history

===Cricket World Cup

USA have never qualified for the World Cup.

ICC Champions Trophy===

★ 2004: First round
===ICC Intercontinental Cup

★ 2004: First round

ICC Trophy===

★ 1979 to 1986: First round

★ 1990: Second round

★ 1994: Plate competition. ''Note: The USA qualified for the plate final, but had already booked their flight home as they did not expect to qualify'' [1]

★ 1997: 12th place

★ 2001: 6th place

★ 2005: 10th place
===ICC Americas Championship=

★ 2000: 3rd place

★ 2002: Won

★ 2004: Runners up

★ 2006: Division One Runners up

See also==

★ Major League Cricket

★ Pro Cricket

★ American national cricket captains

Notes

1. Smithsonian Institution Magazine: Cricket, Anyone?
2. The American Revolution Webpage: The Winter At Valley Forge
3. USA cricket history at cricinfo
4. Alan Gibson, ''The Cricket Captains of England'', The Pavilion Library, 1989, ISBN 1-85145-390-3, 4-7.
5. See summary of first-class matches here.
6. USACA Who we are page
7. ICC 6 Nations Challenge 2004 Points Table at Cricket Archive
8. List of ODIs played by the USA
9. Points Table from the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy at Cricket Archive
10. ICC suspends USA from Intercontinental Cup, Cricinfo
11. Americas Division One at Cricket Archive
12. Americas Division One points table
13. World Cricket League Structure
14. World Cricket League Structure
15. ICC Board Suspends USACA, ICC official site

External links

★ USACA website

★ Cricinfo USA