How International Cricket Began In New York

The Cricket World Cup has begun in earnest, and the United States is getting ready to co-host the next global white ball competition, the T20, in 2024. New York will be one of the three chosen venues in the U.S., as confirmed last month by the ICC. Big-time cricket is coming back to the city that oversaw the sport’s very first international match.

Cricket has been around in some form in the United States since the early 1700s, introduced by colonial British sailors and first played in Georgia, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. After a particularly harsh winter at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War, George Washington indulged in a game of ‘wicket’ with his troops to keep up fitness and morale in 1778. That version of the game featured a longer wicket of about six feet in width and a paddle-like bat that was the shape of a spoon.

According to the United States Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (US-SGMA), English immigrants settled in New York and spread cricket through the East Coast corridor between NYC and Philadelphia. It was essentially a game for the gentrified native upper class, but in Philly, workers and the middle class would play alongside their social superiors.

Cricket was also growing exponentially in Canada. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, it “was probably the first of the major games played, being popular in the garrisons in the late 18th century.” The first-ever PM, John A. Macdonald, declared cricket the nation’s first sport.

By the middle of the 19^th century, cricket clubs were established in every American city, with New York rebranding as St. George’s Cricket Club. “Drawing on the best English-born players in the area, St. George’s laid claim to being the best team in the country—whether true or not, the claim did keep America’s focus on cricket in New York,” Steve Holroyd (@Yankeecricketer), an amateur historian of American cricket, told me.

Against this background of a burgeoning sport, an invite was sent from a mysterious Mr. Phillpotts, requesting the premier North American neighbours to play Toronto C.C. on their patch. After travelling through New York by stagecoach and Lake Ontario by steamer, the 18 players, penniless and hungry, arrived only to be told that no such game had been arranged.

However, the perfect hosts would not turn their backs on the squad of exhausted guests, and an impromptu game was arranged, attended by the Upper Governor of Canada with musical entertainment by the brass band of the 34th Regiment. It was played on a stake of $250 per side. The Americans had recovered sufficiently from their journey to dominate and won by 10 wickets.

A close bond of cricket and social heritage had been forged through the hoax, and four years later, a return fixture was arranged at Bloomingdale Park (around East 31 Street and First Avenue). This time, it was advertised as a game between the US and Canada. Philadelphia and New York club cricketers formed the main part of the St. George’s team, as well as Boston and Washington representatives.

It was scheduled for two days across September 24 and 25, 1844, with bets aggregating more than $100,000 in circulation. The crowd numbered at least 10,000, and modern critics concerned about over rates would be startled that the match began 100 minutes late. Another day was required to complete the match because of rain rather than slow play, and this time the Canadians claimed the victory by 23 runs. The two countries still play for the Auty Cup, the longest-running international rivalry in any sport.

Although New York papers covered cricket far more than baseball in the 1850s, the boots on the ground were changing. Cricketers started to share playing fields with their counterparts. The latter was a far more portable game too, not needing the green and manicured pitches that its cousin demanded. It was easier to rock up at a baseball game with no extra equipment needed other than four sacks on the ground.

The real twist came after the Civil War. Traditional games like gridiron football were now the games of choice through a culture of American exceptionalism. “Cricket is essentially an English game; a game in such favour with the English cannot well have much attraction for the American, the disposition of both people being as different as base ball is from cricket,” wrote the Brooklyn Eagle.

The failure to open up cricket to the masses, the working class, was a conscious decision by many clubs, which laid the path for baseball to crash in and take the populace with them. Clubs in Philly tried to Americanize the game as much as they could, but St. George’s CC was far too inward-looking to grow the game, essentially banning any native-born or blue-collar workers from their side.

“The sport of cricket had a popularity (then) that it does not enjoy now by any means. Now, the country possesses a ball game that is quickly played and yields exciting and lively contests,” reported the New York Times
NYT
in 1868. When the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed in 1876, it became a catalyst for many to switch one bat for another.

It remains to be seen if the propulsion of Major League Cricket and the 2024 T20 World Cup can stoke the passion and grow the domestic game in its original birthplace. Whatever happens next, New York will always be the starting point for the globalisation of the gentleman’s game.