Early Developments
Cricket was being played in British North America by at least the beginning of the eighteenth century. The earliest definite reference to American cricket is in the 1709 diaries of William Byrd of Westover on his James River estates in Virginia. By the time of the American Revolution, the game was so popular that the troops at Valley Forge participated in matches among themselves. There is at least one instance recorded of George Washington himself joining in a game of "wicket." John Adams was recorded as saying in Congress that if leaders of simple cricket clubs could be called "presidents," there was no reason why the leader of the new nation could not be called something more grand. Cricket continued to develop slowly as a recreational sport until the time of American independence in 1783.
Read more about this topic: History Of United States Cricket
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