The Cricket World Cup Comes to America

As a kid, I played tag with my cousins on the grounds of Eisenhower Park. But today, on those same fields, professional talents from all over the world compete for the ICC T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup. Cricket’s presence in America prior to this cup was limited; the sport was played only by the expats of major cricket-faring nations like India, England, Australia, and Bangladesh. Today, the culture around cricket has completely changed, thanks to a pop-up stadium in one of my childhood parks and a shocking upset in the group stages. Let’s break it down.

T20 Cricket

Cricket, in its original form, was an extremely boring sport. Matches (called “tests”) would last five days from sunrise to sunset with each team batting through their entire lineup twice. The sport was defensive; don’t get out, and score runs when you can. There was no limit on the number of deliveries that players would face, so they would play extremely slow. Today, no one has time to watch one match for five days, especially when an unfinished batting session for both teams results in a draw, regardless of how lopsided the score is.

For this reason, cricket authorities created a new format of the game—the One Day International (ODI). For the first time, there was a hard limit on the number of deliveries (pitches, if you will) that each team would face. Your team bats once, you get 300 balls, and whichever team scores more wins. As the name suggests, these matches would typically run for the length of one day (from sunup to sundown), and it was a lifeline for the sport. Following the inception of the ODI World Cup in 1975, the sport experienced a resurgence, especially in former British territories. 

But for these people, the same issue existed—it was pretty hard to set aside an entire day to watch a game, especially if it was on a weekday. Desperate to bring about another revival to the sport, following a fall in popularity during the 2000s, the ICC sanctioned T20 Cricket. Each T20 match runs for three to four hours and gives each team just 120 deliveries. This encourages teams to play fast and risky—it’s okay to get out if you’re trying to score big runs. Since then, cricket has been the second most watched sport in the world. 

Hosting

Cricket West Indies is a unified body that recruits players from the nations of the Caribbean. Cricket is a large part of culture in the Caribbean, and the West Indies dominated the early years of the ODI Cricket World Cup, winning the first two editions of the cup. They also won the 2016 T20 World Cup, and have been storied for their success as the first nation outside of England to dominate international cricket. Though their team of this decade has struggled to match the results of all-rounder Carlos Braithwaite, they won the rights to host the 2024 T20 Cup after partnering with U.S. Cricket, the governing body for America’s semi-competitive team. Though the nation does compete in qualifiers, the United States was yet to qualify for a major tournament. However, as hosts for the 2024 Cup, they would automatically gain a spot, allowing them to compete in the World Cup for the first time.

This posed a problem to the States. Although the West Indies has plenty of purpose-built cricket stadiums, the United States only has one—a 15,000 seat pitch in Grand Prairie, Texas. For these games, the ICC worked to build three temporary, small arenas in Florida, North Carolina, and New York to make games more accessible to fans. Though all of the knockout stage matches would be played in the West Indies, a couple of major showdowns would take place in the United States, most importantly the match between India and Pakistan.

The United States

The tournament has its favorites, and the United States weren’t one of them. And yet, the Americans are poised to enter the knockout stage of the tournament after some shocking upsets. Cricket in America doesn’t pay well, so most players on the U.S. national team have day jobs that help them make ends meet while playing cricket as a hobby for their nation. In their first match, an all-American showdown against Canada, the United States showed they came to play. After strong Canadian innings required the States to chase an eye-watering 195 runs to win, many thought that the United States’s defensive ineptitude would cost them the game.

However, enter Aaron Jones. Born in Queens and of Barbadian origin, Jones is an all-rounder who plays in the Bangladeshi domestic league. As one of the few players with domestic experience, he put on an absolute showcase, scoring 94 runs off just 40 deliveries as USA took the match with over two overs left to play. It was the highest run total achieved by either nation in formal T20 play, and proved that both the States and Canada were not to be underestimated.

However, Jones and Team USA would need to win against one of the group’s goliaths—India and Pakistan—to have a chance at qualification. Though their match against Pakistan was at “home” in Grand Prairie, the fans were largely Pakistani, and most analysts were swift to call the match for the more experienced Pakistani side. Thanks to some acrobatics from the USA’s Steven Taylor and solid fielding from Nitish Kumar, both Pakistani openers fell early. Swinging for the fences, the Pakistani batsmen managed to accumulate some boundaries but gave up easy wickets to fielders both during and after the powerplay, finishing with a respectable 159-7. 

The USA innings began slowly, with Taylor and his strike partner Monank Patel keeping the ball close to the ground, accumulating a few fours but keeping their projections high. Taylor would not play hero in this match, falling after scoring just 12 runs. Andries Gous and Monank would build a strong partnership, with the Pakistani defense struggling to take the pairs’ wickets. However, Gous and Monank would fall shortly after Monank’s half-century, bringing on Jones to keep this game close. After a lot of steadfast Pakistani bowling, Jones smashed boundaries. In the final over, the USA looked hopeless, requiring 12 runs from just three balls. The first of those three was a super shot by Jones, clearing the boundary for six runs. After a single brought them to five to win, Nitish Kumar was brought up for the last hit. With the fate of the game in his hands, Nitish falls short of the win, but hits a boundary to tie the game. After 20 overs, the scores were level at 159, necessitating both teams to play a Super Over.

Perhaps it was the momentum, the fresh wind, or the tension amongst the visiting Pakistani fans that fueled the American resurgence towards the match’s end. But whatever it was, Jones took full advantage of it. Pakistani bowler Mohammad Amir struggled to keep the score low, surrendering three wides and three free runs to the American batsmen. Their defense was sloppy; Jones stayed on strike for the entire over because of Pakistan’s overthrows, which turned one run play into two run plays. USA finished with a total of 18 runs, meaning Pakistan needed 19 to win.

Indian-born American bowler and software engineer Saurabh Netravalkar had a lot of leeway when bowling his six for the Pakistani Super Over. Needing to defend 18 runs, he attacked the Pakistani batsmen with a killer spin. On the fourth ball (following a wide), Iftikhar Ahmed’s wicket was taken off a quick catch by the American fielders. Though their hitters would find some boundaries, it was too little, too late for the Pakistani national team. The Americans had done it—a team full of amateurs who couldn’t afford to play cricket professionally and a team whose parents and grandparents all hailed from the great cricketing nations had defeated Pakistan in a World Cup T20 match. For Pakistan, the match was heartbreaking. Following their subsequent loss to India, it makes it nearly impossible for them to advance past the group stages. Instead, most likely, a young and inexperienced USA will enter the knockouts alongside cricket’s giants. 

The Future

I was lucky enough to visit a match between Bangladesh and South Africa in Nassau County. Though the crowd was predominantly Bangladeshi, the South Africans would take the match at the death. Cricket fans and sports enjoyers from across the greater northeast flocked to a stadium to watch a cricket match of high quality. And despite the tension surrounding the match, the opposing fans respected each other because they respected the game. They were simply proud to see that the game had finally come to them.

For the millions of South Asians and West Indians who flocked to America seeking the American dream, the comforts of cricket have finally come home. Perhaps this World Cup will mark a new beginning for cricket culture in the United States.