Cricket creates a platform in America

There was an interesting juxtaposition involving cricket trying to break into the US while Major League Baseball is trying to do the same in England. 

The New York Mets played two games at the London Stadium (usually the home of West Ham United) last weekend, which gave many of their players the chance to sample an English pastime. 

The Mets’ second baseman, Jeff McNeil, admitted he’d watched more cricket than he had anticipated before the Mets arrived in London. “My wife got into it, and I got into it — I think I would be a heck of a cricket player,” McNeil said. “You can swing at everything, it bounces and you can put it in play anywhere, I think that would be a lot of fun.”

Well that’s at least one person who’s been won over. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the pond, in New York, Pakistan and India were locked in their latest World Cup battle, a match that meant more than simple regional bragging rights or two points. 

This was the occasion that ICC wanted to use, to ‘sell’ cricket to America. A packed Nassau County International Stadium, pulsing, vibing, chanting. “I witnessed a gigantic party,” wrote Michael Dominski in theathletic.com

His article was syndicated for the New York Times. Yuvraj Singh, one of India’s heroes when they won the T20 World Cup in 2007, made an appearance on the big breakfast TV shows in the days leading up to the match. The NY Post tabloid carried multiple articles on the India-Pakistan match. ESPN’s venerable SportsCentre show, went nuts about the USA beating Pakistan. 

The World Cup has made an impression, even if for cricket aficionados the matches in New York haven’t been spectacles. Conditions have been too favourable for the bowlers, but new American viewers don’t know that. The NY Post described the final outcome of Sunday’s match as “(India) pulled off a shocking 119-113 win”.

“Their frame of reference is baseball, so hopefully they found it more exciting than that — no disrespect to my (NY) Yankee colleagues who we met during our stay there,” chirped Proteas head coach Rob Walter. 

While low-scoring T20 matches, like those seen in New York, may not be what everyday cricket fans tune in for, in the US the way South Africa's last two matches and subcontinent derby unfolded made for riveting viewing. 

Walter felt the fact that Americans, who don’t know cricket, would have watched the low-scoring matches, wouldn’t have mattered to them.

“If you had very little frame of reference around the game, and you got to watch those games — and yes, traditionalists might say there weren’t enough runs scored — but they were still great adverts for the game of cricket.

“The person from the Yankees who we liaised with, watched India vs Pakistan, that was his first game, he walked away thinking great things about cricket. Hopefully we have spread the love a little bit about the game and we’ve got a few more supporters because of it,” said Walter.

The egos of batters getting a slight scarring, is a wound the ICC can accept if cricket makes even a tiny impression in the crowded US sports market. 

That will be gauged in multiple periods over the next few years. In the short term there’s the Major League Cricket competition, which starts a week after the T20 World Cup ends. Already the ICC has allowed that tournament an extended window — which will put it in direct competition with The Hundred in England — and there is talk of adding teams to the current six.

The long-term goal is the 2028 Olympics in LA — pitches will likely again be a talking point, but the ICC now have data to ensure a more competitive balance in matches — and an even longer term view involves what the sport will look like in the US in 2034. 

It may not get the mainstream publicity the ICC has set as a goal, but even if it remains just as entertainment for expats, that is still a large audience of about 5-million viewers. Additional interest from folks who grew up on baseball, basketball and gridiron, would be welcomed, but it isn’t necessary. 

Cricket has made an impression on the US. Now, if we can get them to understand how the result must be reflected ... or maybe they are onto something with South Africa beating Bangladesh 113-109.