NEW DELHI: The T20 Word Cup marks the big-ticket return of cricket to North American soil. But will the gentleman's game, which was a popular past time in the United States in the mid-1800s, be able to create an effect on the local public, who may know very little about it?
Cricket globally is driven by India, but the
International Cricket Council
believes there is enormous potential in the US market, where there are currently 30 million fans.
The T20 championship is also considered a significant prelude to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where cricket will return for the first time in 128 years on June 1st.
Three locations, namely New York, Dallas, and Lauderhill, will host a total of sixteen games. Of the 55 scheduled matches, including the knockout rounds, the majority will take place in the Caribbean.
On the third day of the competition, South Africa and Sri Lanka will square off in New York, the site of the first-ever international cricket match between the United States and Canada in 1844.
There was a time when cricket was played all over America, but in the 1860s, during the Civil War, a far faster alternative in
baseball
became popular.
"...(T20) it's entertainment and that's what people look for. That's what Americans look for, you know, they want entertainment," says legendary West Indian
Brian Lara
, one of the most recognisable cricketers in the world but someone who admits that he could walk around Miami without getting a second look.
"You know, you speak to an American and I've done that many times and they'd say 'you play a game for five days and then you end up in a draw? What's that all about?' So it's, it is difficult," he explains the challenge of selling Test cricket to an American, who might just warm up to the shortest format though.
A couple of weeks of international cricket in an alien land will not be enough to evoke long-lasting interest from the local audience and to ensure the game grows beyond the South Asian and Caribbean expat community, the stakeholders will need more time.
For a beginner, cricket can be rather complex to understand especially when one is introduced to "third man", "fine leg" or "deep mid-wicket", some of the terms used for the many field placements in the game.
The
ICC
is pulling out all stops to engage with the American audience, whether it is getting eight-time Olympic gold-winning sprinter
Usain Bolt
on board as the World Cup ambassador or promoting the event at the recent Formula 1 race in Miami.
To distract the average American household from the world of baseball, NFL and NBA, cricket will need to grow at the grassroots level.
"I surely think the game can grow in the USA. When you have presence in a country people start gravitating towards it and want to know more about," Bolt, who belongs to the cricket-loving Caribbean, told PTI in a recent interview.
The Americans have surely one reason to follow the event. Their team, mainly made up of players from South Asian and Caribbean heritage, will be making its World Cup debut.
The President of USA Cricket, Venu Pisike, believes that while the ICC tournament would raise much-needed recognition for the sport, participation in the 2028 Olympics will ultimately attract large numbers of people to it.
"So far, cricket is predominantly an expats' game, but with the marketing and promotion activities during the World Cup, there is some momentum and the World Cup will definitely boost the opportunities to expand the game in the USA," said Pisike.
"Definitely, the World Cup is bringing a lot of awareness and then the opportunity for cricket to be in the Olympics, that will definitely attract the community because the US is a huge sports country.
"Olympics is the prime area where all the sports bodies are focusing on since cricket is going to Olympics, that will actually give more opportunities to expand the sport between the World Cup and the Olympics," added Pisike.
The USA squad picked for the tournament makes up for a bunch of semi-professionals who rely on full-time jobs to run their families. That will have to change if the sport is to appeal to a broader audience in America, believes India-born USA squad member Nisarg Patel.
"Ultimately what needs to change in the USA is that an American kid in a high school needs to see a future in the game. There are so many sports in America, the country is built on Olympic medals.
"For cricket to succeed, we need to show them there is a career out of playing cricket," said the spinner, who works full-time with a medical research company in Los Angeles.
The start of Major League Cricket last year, the sport's first professional league in the country, was a big step in that direction.
However, the ICC and other stakeholders would face an enormous struggle in trying to catch the public's attention in a nation where the athletic environment is already crowded and developed.
(With PTI inputs)
English (US) ·