Team USA’s better than expected performance in the T20 Cricket World Cup has been one of the feel-good moments of the World Cup. The USA not only defeated a major cricket nation in Pakistan, but they also made the ‘super 8’ of the tournament. Apart from Afghanistan’s win over Australia, the USA defeat of Pakistan was definitely the shock result of the tournament so far. The USA has also gained respect for hosting an excellent tournament together with the West Indies.
So, who knew Americans played and watched cricket? It’s always been there, in fact the first international cricket match ever was actually between the USA and Canada in 1844, but it historically never took off in North America, where baseball was the preferred game of summer. The recent rise of cricket in the USA, however, has mainly been the result of the large-scale immigration from South Asia, particularly India. They are a growing and affluent professional community. Many South Asian immigrants to the USA (and Canada) are engineers, doctors and entrepreneurs with good educations and professional jobs. Indian Americans are the most affluent group in America by median household income and in terms of education 70 per cent of Indian Americans have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to the US average of 28 per cent.
A lot of this affluence is ploughed into supporting local cricket leagues in the USA and watching cricket locally and all over the world by the technological advances in live streaming. Also, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises are creating clubs and leagues around the world in South Africa, UAE, and the Caribbean as well as the USA to grow the popularity of the sport and to attract talent to their respective franchises. This adds to the India soft power influence in America via cricket.
But the excellent performance of Team USA at this tournament has gone beyond the South Asian community and has got more Americans in general talking about cricket. Big sporting media outlets like ESPN and The Bleacher Report covered their magnificent win over Pakistan earlier in the campaign.
USA vs PAK Reactions: Americans react to USA beating Pakistan in the T20 World Cup
Is the game growing? Over 200,000 people play cricket in the USA currently with over 400 leagues ranging from school leagues to academies.
About Domestic Cricket | USA Cricket
Cricket in the US is also heavily backed by investors, with the Major League Cricket (MLC) competition a key growth driver. MLC is developing cricketing infrastructure in the US including international quality stadiums, youth academies and top-class training facilities.
About | Major League Cricket
Of course, at the moment it is a passion of the immigrants from cricket loving nations in South Asia and the Caribbean. But cutting through to the rest of America who love their baseball, basketball and football will take more work. This is why the International Cricket Council (ICC) is stepping up its marketing and expanding cricket education programs across the USA to introduce young people to the game. According to one of the US star players, left arm fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar, the growth of academies across the country is happening. “There is a lot of emphasis on the youth,” he said. “They are investing a lot in the under-19 age programs, and also in the women’s program. Our women’s team is actually doing quite well.”
Exclusive: “We went to the US Army Centre to train” – USA captain Saurabh Netravalkar
Cricket coach Sham Chotoo, who migrated from Trinidad and Tobago 30 years ago, has set up an elementary school cricket league in Maryland that now has 86 teams and over 1,000 children playing. "You see they would get so excited, and you see their whole faces would light up,” he said. He has enlisted the support of Gary Kirsten, the former South African great as a coach, as many international cricketers see the USA as a lucrative market for playing, coaching and commentating.
But could the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup be the USA’s 1994 FIFA World Cup moment? In 1994, on home soil, the US soccer team did better than expected making the quarter finals, to the surprise of many, including themselves. The fact that the USA was given the right to host the Cup in 1994 was a shock then, let alone how well the team did in similar parallels to the cricket team in 2024. Since the triumph of 1994, we have seen a growth in soccer in the USA – particularly amongst women and girls. So much so, that the USA is the host of the next FIFA World Cup in 2026, together with Canada and Mexico and they are considered to be a credible joint-host not an aberration.
Will cricket experience a similar boom in the USA post-2024, in a similar way to soccer post-1994? Time will tell, but certainly the excellent performance of Team USA has been noticed by cricket followers around the world and by a core following at home.
How cricket has exploded in popularity in the U.S.
Professor Tim Harcourt is Chief Economist at the UTS Centre for Sport, Business & Society (CSBS) and host of Footynomics – The Economics of Sport. He specialises in Australia’s economic engagement with the Global Economy particularly Asia, Latin America and Emerging Markets. Tim has worked in both public policy and research roles in International Trade, Labour Markets, Climate Innovation and the Economics of Sport.
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