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Revision as of 19:36, 10 November 2004 by Sam Korn (talk | contribs) (re champions trophy '04)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Cricket was established in the USA in the eighteenth century. Indeed, John Adams even stated in the US 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 in 2004, with it participating in the first ICC Intercontinental Cup, which saw it 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 cricket league was started in 2004 playing 20 overs a side cricket. This did not enjoy the support of the USA Cricket Association that is recognised by the ICC.
Winning the ICC Six Nations meant that it 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. They were 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 fundemental problem was the average age of the team - over thirty-five. This boded ill for success in the near future.
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.
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