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The United States will make sports history on June 1 when it co-hosts a major cricket tournament for the first time.
The month-long ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by the West Indies, will kick off with the opening match between the United States and Canada in Dallas, Texas.
The United States was an unlikely choice to co-host the Cricket World Cup because few people outside of the country's expats play or watch cricket, a game invented by the British in the 17th century that is hugely popular in Britain's former colonies, from the Caribbean to South Asia to Australia.
The choice of the United States to co-host the games was no doubt driven by a desire to boost revenue for the sport, with North America being one of the world's largest sports markets.
Now cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council, is looking to tap into a huge market for the sport that Statista estimates will be worth $83 billion by 2023.
“The very fact that the World Cup is coming to the United States, the biggest sports market in the world, is generating huge interest,” ICC head of events Chris Tetley told AFP.
The ICC has also tapped several former cricketing giants, such as West Indies' Curtly Ambrose, to promote cricket in the United States.
Ambrose, who was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2011, believes the World Cup will be a success.
“American cricket, especially the T20 format, can be a big change because we know Americans want everything to be over quickly,” Ambrose told reporters at Nassau County Stadium in New York.
In this form of cricket, each team plays 20 overs, totalling 120 balls, and the match usually takes four hours to complete. There is also a lot of music and cheerleader-style dancing during the match.
The ICC also awarded the T20 World Cup to the United States with a longer-term view towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where the T20 format of cricket will be one of five new sports featured.
“This will be a key stepping stone in promoting cricket beyond 2028, delivering world-class cricket to the sport's already huge fanbase.” [has] “In the United States,” Tetley said.
The presence of cricket-mad South Asian immigrants (mainly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) undoubtedly convinced the ICC that bringing cricket to the United States would be a success.
According to U.S. Census data and South Asian-focused publication SAALT, there are between 5.5 million and 6 million South Asian Americans living in the U.S. They are mostly concentrated in just a few states, with California, New York, Texas, and Illinois leading the way, and Michigan not far behind.
The “existing fan base” in the U.S. that Tetley was referring to is made up largely of immigrants from South Asian countries, six of the 20 nations represented in the tournament, and the influence of the roughly 6 million Americans of South Asian descent is already being seen in ticket sales.
Tickets for the highly anticipated match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in New York on June 9 sold out within hours of going on sale, while matches between other South Asian nations are either sold out or only have the most expensive tickets available.
In the first phase of the tournament, 16 of the 40 matches will be held in three US cities – Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill and Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas.
The remaining matches, including the second phase and the semi-finals, will be played in the Caribbean, with the World Cup final scheduled to be played at Kensington Oval Stadium in Bridgetown, Barbados.
“It's pretty surreal, to be honest with you, but I'm just so excited, not just for myself, but for the U.S. team and cricket around the world,” said New Zealand-born Corey Anderson, who once played for New Zealand and is now a key member of the U.S. team. “This is obviously one of the biggest events in the world and it's going to be another stepping stone for the U.S. to continue to grow cricket.”
Hosting the World Cup is expected to stimulate domestic interest in cricket in the same way that the 1994 FIFA World Cup boosted soccer in the United States, where baseball, a bat-hitting sport that involves hitting a ball with a bat, is already popular. A T20 version of cricket has the potential to attract a similar following.
ESPNcricinfo US correspondent Peter Della Penna said cricket is about entertaining people.
“I've never met anyone who came to a physical cricket match who didn't enjoy it and didn't leave saying, 'That was a fun experience and I want to come back and watch another match like this,'” he told VOA.
England and the West Indies have each won the T20 World Cup twice since the inaugural tournament in 2007. India, the inaugural winners, are currently ranked number one in the world and are considered one of the favourites to win the tournament.
Australia, hosting the tournament in 2022, will be looking to add the T20 crown to the ongoing World Cups in two other formats of cricket, marking the first time they have achieved such a triple sweep since the ICC launched the World Test Championship in 2019.
South Africa and New Zealand are the two favourites to win all formats of cricket but have never won a T20 tournament and will be expected to pose a serious challenge for the title, but few will be dismissing Pakistan, who often spring surprises.
Source: VOA
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