Coming to America

By Cosmo Hamilton

Reputedly the second most popular sport in the world, cricket is engaged in a battle royal for recognition in North America where it has been played on a limited basis at best for over 150 years. It is yet attempting to emerge from the obscure, make-shift playing fields of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens in New York to far-flung areas of California and Florida to make its glorious way into the hearts and minds of Americans.

Unlike soccer which has been embraced by Americans particularly the youth all across the country and is professionally organized by a reputable national association that consistently produces a world class team USA, cricket is still viewed in the United States as that weird game that involves a paddle and a ball that sometimes goes on for days governed by myriad rules and regulations. For native Americans it is too much to comprehend particularly if it is explained with tongue in cheek as it was to a foreign visitor by the MCC:

“You have two sides one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he is out he comes in and the next man goes in until he is out.
“When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.
“Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

“When both sides have been in and out including the not outs, that’s the end of the game. And so our beloved cricket lovely cricket which emotes such passion amongst those of us who have grown up playing the sport in our native lands throughout the Commonwealth, and which in name even connotes a sense of propriety and discipline, remains a veritable conundrum particularly in North America where instant gratification is the name of the game, and a short attention span has become a feature in modern day fanaticism. With that in mind the T20I format of the game might be just what the doctor ordered for the USA. It would still however be over-ambitious to anticipate throngs of American sports fans coming out in support of international cricket matches anywhere in the States.

Yet, recognizing cricket’s commercial potential with millions of immigrants from cricket playing nations now calling the USA home, individual promoters since 1977, have regularly staged One Day international-type matches in New York and elsewhere in the contiguous 48 states, featuring world class stars like Sir Garfield Sobers, Brian Lara, and Sachin Tendulkar, as they chase that elusive pot of gold. But hardly anyone of them has been properly organized to capitalize on the vast commercial opportunity for cricket in the burgeoning immigrant community, and engage in its systematic development in a new land.

The latest attempt at introducing cricket as a viable commercial product amongst the vast panoply of international sports in the USA is being proffered by an organization called Cricket Holdings America, apparently featuring a joint venture between the volatile United States Cricket Association recognized as the official representative of the ICC in the USA, and New Zealand Cricket. Jointly the organization is expected to launch a T20 league in the USA in 2013.

Whether this foray is a flight of fancy or finally a successful launching pad for high level cricket in America, the perfect platform appears to be this week-end’s ICC sanctioned T20I matches between West Indies and New Zealand at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. This venue is the only ICC approved international cricket facility in the USA.
With a capacity of 16,400, the organizers are expecting some 10,000 fans for each of the two matches this Saturday June 30th and Sunday July 1st. Most of the crowd are expected to be drawn from the roughly half million or so immigrants from the Caribbean now resident in South Florida. Bright cricket this weekend could spawn a bright future for marketing of international cricket in America.