History of United States Cricket - History Following Independence

History Following Independence

Cricket enjoyed its greatest popularity along the east coast corridor between Philadelphia and New York. A contemporary report notes that upwards of 5,000 people played the game in those cities. In 1833, students at Haverford College established what is generally accepted as the first cricket club exclusively for Americans. This club was short-lived, but helped to keep interest in the sport alive in Philadelphia leading to the foundation of the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1854 and the Germantown and Young America clubs in 1855. By this time, Philadelphia had become the unofficial "Cricket Capital of America."

The United States holds the distinction of being a participant in the first international cricket match. This match was first played against Canada on 24 September 1844 by the St George's Cricket Club at the former Bloomingdale Park in Manhattan. The match was attended by some 10,000 spectators, and is today the world's oldest international sporting event. Wagers of around $120,000 were placed on the outcome of the match. This is equivalent to around $1.5 million in 2007.

As late as 1855, the New York press was still devoting more space to coverage of cricket than to baseball.

Sides from England toured North America (taking in both the USA and Canada) following the English cricket seasons of 1859, 1868 and 1872. These were organised as purely commercial ventures. The 1859 team comprised six players from the All-England Eleven and six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr. They played five matches, winning them all. There were no first-class fixtures. The match at New York attracted a crowd that was claimed to be 10,000, all that the ground would hold.

The 1868 tourists were led by Edgar Willsher and those of 1872-3 by R.A. Fitzgerald. The latter side included W.G.Grace.

Most of the matches of these early English touring teams were played "against odds", that is to say the home team was permitted to have more than eleven players (usually twenty-two) in order to make a more even contest.

In spite of all this American growth in the game, it was slowly losing ground to a newcomer. In many cities, local cricket clubs were contributing to their own demise by encouraging crossover to the developing game of baseball. After the United States Civil War the Cincinnati Red Stockings brought a talented young bowler from the St. George's Cricket Club in New York to serve as a player and manager of the team. Harry Wright applied the "scientific" batting and specialized placement of fielders that he had learned in cricket to his new sport. This development was instrumental in creating the Cincinnati team's undefeated 1869 season. It also helped to secure the place of baseball as one of the most popular sports in the country.

It may have been during the Civil War that baseball secured its place as America's game. An army making a brief stop at a location could easily organise a game of baseball on almost any clear patch of ground, whilst cricket required a carefully prepared pitch. Baseball began to poach players and administrators from the world of cricket. Nick Young, who served for 25 years as the president of the National League, was originally a successful cricketer. It was not until the Civil War that he took up baseball because "it looked like cricket for which his soul thirsted." It has been suggested that the fast-paced quick play of baseball was more appealing to Americans than the technical slower game of cricket. This natural tendency toward baseball was compounded by terrible American defeats at the hands of a traveling English side in 1859, which may have caused Americans to think that they would never be successful at this English game. By the end of the Civil War, most cricket fans had given up their hopes of broad-based support for the game. Baseball filled the role of the "people's game" and cricket became an amateur game for gentlemen.