Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Timothy Abraham
- Role, BBC Sport Journalist in Dallas
There’s a wonderful anecdote from the time the great Don Bradman was out for a duck in New York.
Having dismissed the legendary Australia batter – who finished with a Test average of 99.94 – without scoring, the jubilant bowler sprinted off to the boundary in celebration.
That breach of cricketing etiquette, in an era of fusty formality, was sufficient to slightly irk Bradman as he walked from his crease.
But when the bowler then proceeded to stuff his cap with US dollar bills collected from the crowd, Bradman was aghast.
Just under a century later, as the United States prepares to co-host the T20 World Cup, such brazen profiteering from cricket might be perceived in a different light.
The US has been a project of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for more than two and a half decades. Tangible progress has been slow.
With a major global ICC tournament on its shores (well, 16 of the 55 games, at least) and cricket returning to the Olympic Games at Los Angeles in 2028, there is a sense cricket here has arrived at a critical juncture.
And there are still some challenging hurdles to clear if the sport is to succeed.
A beacon of hope amid the chaos
Firstly, USA Cricket, the sport’s governing body in the country, is an organisation beset by governance problems. There have been more resignations than a chess tournament in recent years.
Unusually for a member hosting an ICC event, it has had next to no role in organising and marketing it.
The ICC set up T20 International Inc in the country, operating under its auspices, to oversee the tournament instead.
For anyone with even a passing interest in US cricket, it’s a familiar tale. The body that USA Cricket replaced – USA Cricket Association – was expelled by the ICC in 2017.
However, a beacon of hope on the organisational front has come from Major League Cricket (MLC), which is providing the infrastructure and profile the game so desperately needs in the US.
The T20 franchise tournament has significant backers, including Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella.
And the tournament has the finances to pull in the star names, too.
Washington Freedom alone has Steve Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Rachin Ravindra, Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson on their books for the 2024 season, which starts six days after the T20 World Cup wraps up.
Awarded List A status this week, MLC plans to expand from 19 games in 2023 to 34 by 2025.
Build it and people will come
Dedicated cricket grounds are already constructed in Dallas – hosting the opening game between the USA and Canada this weekend – and Florida.
The site of the New York stadium, set to host India v Pakistan, will be restored to a municipally accessible park after the tournament ends with responsibilities turned over to Nassau County authorities.
“It’s a two-hour drive from downtown Manhattan, not served particularly well by public transport but worst of all leaves no real meaningful legacy,” an MLC franchise owner told BBC Sport.
“India’s games aside, the attendances for matches starting so early might be a real struggle.”
The ICC insists it will leave behind a “world-class international playing facility with drainage and irrigation”.
Informal proposals to use the ground after the World Cup finishes for a portion of this season’s MLC matches to sustain interest in the game were seemingly unworkable.
The MLC is also pressing ahead with plans for grounds in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC and New York.
They are supremely confident if they build them, people will come.
The million-dollar question
ICC’s estimates of 50m-60m cricket fans in the US might feel hugely optimistic.
One in five Americans questioned in a recent YouGov poll did express an interest in the T20 World Cup and 52% of those surveyed believe the US team will win the tournament.
And a 2-1 series win over Bangladesh for the US in the lead-up has raised hopes of the associate member giving a few full members a bloody nose.
But, the million-dollar question is how (and if) cricket can jostle its way into the psyche of the American mainstream.
It’s never going to come close to overtaking the traditional sports of baseball, basketball and NFL. It took football a while to get its act together.
Cricket is being played by American universities, but does not have ‘Varsity’ status with the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The tens of millions of dollars in university and federal funding, and profile, akin to college American football and basketball, remain firmly out of reach.
The pathway below MLC is Minor League Cricket and further down the pyramid it becomes a mishmash of leagues and private academies, but talent will climb.
There should be opportunities to play international cricket in the future for those who break through. Of the USA’s squad for the T20 World Cup, 13 are over 30 and the other two are 29.
Four members of the 15-man party – Nosthush Kenjige, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor and Aaron Jones – were born in the US, for those who consider such things relevant.
For now, the South Asian diaspora – there are approximately 6.5 million people from India or with Indian heritage in the US alone – have the passion, players and finances to carry the sport along.
Throughout the next few weeks, though, expect the inevitable vox pops with Americans baffled by cricket to emerge on social media.
The 1994 football World Cup brought a similar reaction, though it would doubtless be different now.
Finally, back to Bradman. His dismissal in New York spawned a dubious yarn.
The story goes that Walt Disney took inspiration from the newspaper headlines that followed Bradman’s nought for the name of Mickey Mouse’s cartoon friend Donald Duck.
When there really is an authentic animated Disney cricket story or character – Jiminy aside – we’ll know the sport will truly have made it in America.