Cricket Equipment � History � The History of American Cricket

North America has been a major participant in the world cricket scene since the 1700s, here's a look at the history of American cricket.

For almost as long as British cricket and its equipment has been around, cricket in the USA has been developing alongside it. The first cricket clubs in the USA were founded in 1700s which was not long after the first British cricket clubs were established. Looking at the history of cricket, the first players were officers from the British Army and local gentry. In America , similarly, it was gentleman of leisure that became the first avid players. For example, it is well noted in history that John Adams, who stated in the US congress in the 1780s was an avid follower of the game of cricket.

Once the US and Eastern Canada had developed their cricket equipment and founded quite a few cricket clubs, it was time for the cricketers to search for some competition in the game. This was how the idea for International cricket games developed. Noted in history is the first annual Canada versus the USA cricket match held at Bloomingdale Park in New York . The match was attended by 10,000 people and is known and the �oldest national sporting event� held.

As it became easier to travel to countries, the USA started to send touring cricket teams and their equipment abroad. One of their finest moments in history was when the national USA team beat the West Indies in an international match held on British soil in the 1880s.

In the twentieth century, there was a decline in cricket in the USA . Whilst England and Australia were developing a system whereby only full time players could participate in matches, America wanted to keep their crickets teams full of the amateur elitists. Cricket standards were making history by improving all over the world and most teams were becoming semi-professional and then fully professional as more players abandoned their day jobs and took the cricket equipment onto the pitch full time. North American cricket clubs continued to stay elitist throughout this time and eventually abandoned the game of cricket for alternative sports like tennis and golf.

As the rest of the world continued to make history playing cricket, the Americans abandoned their cricket equipment in favour of a new sport which was originally called �townball� and which we now refer to as baseball. After 1900, baseball took over in America and cricket became a distant memory. However, in the 1930s, after the Word War II, US cricket began to climb back up the ladder and back into the limelight once again as British, Caribbean and South Asian immigrants began to enter North America . Although these newcomers were working men, they made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in skill and cricket in North America was reborn.

As we move into the 21 st century, US cricket is still struggling to compete with the standard of the rest of the world, but there is hope that the USA will recover its history and move forward with its cricket equipment to once again become a major participant in world cricket. .

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