United States national cricket team

United States of America
US national cricket team logo
ICC membership granted	1965
ICC member status	Associate member
ICC development region	Americas
World Cricket League division	Four
Captain	Muhammad Ghous
Coach	Nasir Javed
First recorded match	September 24, 1844 v Canada at St George's Cricket Club in New York
One Day Internationals
ODI matches played	2
ODI wins/losses	0/2
First class cricket
First class matches played	4
First class wins/losses	2/2
List A cricket
List A matches played	21
List A wins/losses	5/15
ICC World Cup Qualifier
Appearances	8 (First in 1979)
Best result	6th place, 2001
As of April 22, 2015

The United States national cricket team is the team that represents the United States in international cricket matches. The team became an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1965. The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) was suspended by the ICC for – amongst other things – failure to hold office-bearers elections under the terms of a new constitution.

However, as of April 1, 2008, the necessary reformations had been made under the supervision of the West Indies Cricket Board and the ICC welcomed the USACA back into the council.^[1] Cricket still remains a minority sport in the United States, failing to gain a substantial following. There are only five proclaimed cricket pitches in the United States and only three of the players on the cricket team are born in the United States.

History

Beginnings

The British brought cricket to the Thirteen Colonies in the early 18th century. Cricket further grew in the 18th century.^[2] It is understood from anecdotal evidence that George Washington was a strong supporter of cricket, participating on at least one occasion in a game of cricket with his troops at Valley Forge during the American Revolution.^[3] 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.^[4]

In 1844, the United States participated in the first international cricket match. This was played against Canada at the St George's Cricket Club Ground, Bloomingdale Park, New York.^[5] This first international sporting event was attended by 20,000 people and established the longest international sporting rivalry in the modern era.^[6] Wagers of around $120,000 were placed on the outcome of the match. This is equivalent to around $1.5 million in 2007.^[7][8]

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 organized 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.^[9]

Decline

In spite of cricket's popularity in the 18th and early 19th 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.^[10]

Another reason for cricket's decline in popularity may be that in the late 19th century 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.^[5] 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

The Philadelphian cricket team, shown here on an 1884 tour of England, were the premier American cricket team for several decades after the US Civil War

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.^[11] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] 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.^[14] Sir Pelham Warner described Bart King as one of the finest bowlers of all time,^[15] and Donald Bradman called him "America's greatest cricketing son."^[16]

On June 28, 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. Today cricket is played in all fifty states.^[17]

The USA have played in every edition of the ICC Trophy, though they didn't pass the first round until the 1990 tournament in the Netherlands. They reached the plate final of the 1994 tournament, but opted not to play due to prior travel arrangements. They finished twelfth in 1997.

21st century

2000–09

USA finished sixth in the 2001 ICC Trophy, their best performance to date. They have also played in every edition of the ICC Americas Championship, winning in 2002.^[18]

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.^[18] 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.^[19]

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 September 10, 2004.^[20] The US side was beaten by New Zealand and lost to Australia in the tournament, as well.^[21]

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.^[18] This failure was compounded on August 9, 2005 when the ICC expelled the USA from the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup.^[22]

The USA made their return to international cricket in August 2006 when they participated in Division One of the ICC Americas Championship in Canada.^[23] They finished second in the five team tournament.^[24]

In May 2007 the USA were to visit Darwin, Australia to take part in Division Three of the ICC World Cricket League.^[25] A top two finish in this tournament would have qualified them for Division Two of the same tournament later in the year.^[25] Unfortunately, the United States of America Cricket Association was suspended from the ICC and the team was pulled from this competition.^[26] The suspension was due to an internal dispute over a constitution for the USACA. The dispute was resolved in early 2008, and the suspension was lifted on April 1 of that year.

The team's reinstatement permitted them to enter the World Cricket League in Division Five for 2008 in Jersey. The team made it through the Group Stage tied for first in their division with a 4–0–0 record (one match abandoned),^[27] but lost both their semi-final match with Jersey and their third-place play-off with Nepal.^[28]

2010–present

USA finished second in the 2010 Division Five after losing the final against Nepal and won promotion to 2010 Division Four. They continued their climb in more emphatic style by finishing first in 2010 Division Four, demolishing Italy in the final. They were promoted to 2011 Division Three where they took last place and were relegated to 2012 Division Four. There they finished in second place, and were promoted back to 2013 Division Three. They remained in Division Three after finishing in third place, but were relegated after finishing fifth in 2014 Division Three. Next up for them will be 2016 Division Four

Tournament history

Stadiums

The only U.S. cricket stadium to meet international standards is Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. Another well-established facility that has hosted international cricket is Leo Magnus Cricket Complex in Los Angeles. A facility in Indianapolis called the Indianapolis World Sports Park is scheduled to open in 2014.

Current squad

The following list contains the final 22 players in USA's squad for the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier:.

Key

• S/N = Shirt number

Coaching staff

• Head Coach – Nasir Javed
• Assistant Coach – Robert Pydanna
• Manager – John Wilson
• Physiotherapist – Basil Butcher Jr.

Captains

Seven players have represented the United States as captain. The first captain of the USA was Anil Kashkari in 1979. He captained the team through three matches, two of which the USA won.

Richard Staple is the only USA captain to captain the side in a One day international, which occurred in 2004. The USA lost both matches. Overall with Staple as captain the USA played 16 matches, of which they won four and lost twelve. After Staple retired in 2005 Steve Massiah was given the captaincy. For the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier the captaincy was given to Sushil Nadkarni.

In October 2013, Neil McGarrell was named USA's captain in a 15-man squad for the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE. McGarrell had played four Tests and 17 ODIs for West Indies between 1998 and 2001. He made his debut for USA in 2012 against Canada and takes over from Steve Massiah who had captain for seven years.

Future tournaments

• USA will participate in the 2015 ICC Americas Twenty20 Division One and then in 2016 ICC World Cricket League Division Four.

See also

• Cricket in the United States
• United States Under-19 cricket team
• Major League Cricket
• Pro Cricket
• List of United States of America ODI cricketers

References

External links

• USACA website
• Cricinfo USA

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