| Governing body | United States of America Cricket Association |
|---|---|
| National team | United States |
| First played | 1793 |
| Competitions | |
| National | |
| World Cricket League | |
| ICC World Cup Qualifier | |
| ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup | |
Cricket in the United States is a sport played at the amateur, club, intercollegiate, and international competition levels. There have also been several recent attempts to form professional cricket leagues in the United States.
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Cricket was played by British colonists in North America by the start of the 18th century.[1] Dartmouth College students were playing cricket on the Green by 1793. [2] Haverford College formed a cricket team in 1833. In recent years Haverford is one of the few post secondary institutions to field a cricket team at the varsity level, hence most of Haverford's opponents are collegiate club level teams.[3] Clubs from the United States and Canada participated in one of the first international cricket matches on record in 1844 in Bloomingdale Park in Manhattan.[4]
In 2004 Pro Cricket was organized as a professional Twenty20 format league with eight teams in two divisions. However, the league closed at the end of its first season in 2004. The Pro Cricket league was independent of the USACA and not recognized or sanctioned by them.
International Cricket has historically been nonexistant till recently when the United States national cricket team started there playing in the World Cricket League. Cricket in the United States is ran by the United States of America Cricket Association which has limited funds which is due to the populrity in American made sports. The United States cricket team is currently unranked in Test Cricket and One Day International cricket.
There are only a few purpose built cricket grounds in the United States, they include: the Germantown Cricket Club and the Philadelphia Cricket Club[6] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Staten Island Cricket Club on Staten Island, New York; the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida; and the Leo Magnus Cricket Complex in Van Nuys, California.
The game is also played on a number of shared purpose venues, they include: Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, New York and others.
The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) is the governing body for International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned cricket in the United States. The ICC recognized the USACA as an associate member starting in 1965. In 2005 the USACA was suspended from an ICC sponsored annual conference due to problems with USACA elections, but that suspension was lifted in March 2006.[7] In 2007 the USACA was again suspended by the ICC because of problems with its administration and constitution, but was again recognized beginning on April 1, 2008.[7]
The national association organizes play within and between seven regional conferences,[8] a regional conference may contain several leagues and a league is a group of 8 or more teams that play according to a schedule.[9] Competition is held at various age levels including Under 19, Under 15, Senior, etc.. There is a National Senior Tournament as well as national and international competitions for other age groups. For the adult levels the regional conferences are divided into two groups, known as the Eastern Conference Standings and the Western Conference Standings.
| Eastern Conference Standings | States, territories, districts | Leagues |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | Delaware, New Jersey, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland | Cricket League of New Jersey, Garden State Cricket League, Millennium Cricket League, New Jersey Cricket Association, New Jersey State Cricket & Umpire's Association, Washington Cricket League, Washington Metropolitan Cricket League |
| New York[11] | New York | American Cricket League, Bangladeshi Cricket League, Brooklyn Cricket League, Commonwealth Cricket League, Eastern American Cricket Association, Metropolitan Cricket League, Nassau New York Cricket Association, New York Cricket League, New York Metropolitan and District Association League, NYPD Cricket League |
| South East[11] | Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico | Florida Cricket Conference, Central Florida Cricket Association, South Florida Cricket Association, Florida South East Cricket Association, Atlanta-Georgia Cricket League |
| North East | Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont | Massachusetts State Cricket League, Connecticut Cricket League, Southern Connecticut Cricket Association |
| Western Conference Standings | States, territories, districts | Leagues |
| Central West | Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Colorado, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas | Colorado Cricket League, Central Texas Cricket League, Houston Cricket League, North Texas Cricket Association |
| Central East | Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama | American Cricket Conference, Great Lakes Cricket Conference, International Cricket Management League, Michigan Cricket Association (Associate), Midwest Cricket Conference, Minnesota Cricket Association, National Cricket League, United Cricket Conference |
| West Coast | Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah | Bay Area Cricket Alliance, California Cricket Academy, California Cricket League, Greater Los Angeles Cricket Association (Associate), Northern California Cricket Association, North West Cricket League, Sacramento Cricket Association, Southern California Cricket Association, Arizona Cricket Association (Associate), Orange County Cricket Association (Associate), San Diego Cricket Association (Associate) |
In 2006 it was estimated that 30,000 American people play or watch cricket annually.[3] Cricket in the United States is not as popular as baseball and is not as popular among as large a fraction of the population as it is within either the Commonwealth nations or the other ICC full member (or Test cricket) nations.[12] There are at least two historical reasons mentioned to explain the relative obscurity of cricket within the United States. One reason was the rise of the summer time bat and ball sport now called baseball in the 19th century within the US, which seems to have displaced cricket as a popular pastime.[12] Another reason was that in 1909 when the ICC was originally organized as the Imperial Cricket Conference it was open only to Commonwealth nations and thereby excluded the US from participating in the sport at the highest level.[13]
Nevertheless in 1965 the US was admitted to the renamed ICC as an associate member and the sport grew in popularity in the second half of the 20th century. An oft mentioned reason for the growing popularity of cricket is the growing population of immigrants to the US who come from cricket playing nations.[3][12]
With the launching of the United States Youth Cricket Association in 2010, a more focused effort to bring the game to American schools was begun, with the intention of broadening cricket's fan base beyond expatriates and their children.[14]
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