USA vs Canada (1844): The first ever International cricket match
A pictorial representation of the game from the New York Museum (image courtesy Cricinfo)
If one had to guess which country hosted the first ever International Cricket match, the USA wouldn’t generally be a very common answer. The oldest rivalry in cricket is an unknown fact, remarkably.
Many people believe the oldest rivalry in cricket involved teams like Australia, England or West Indies, but few actually know that the United States and Canada were involved in this epic duel.
These two nations were part of the first International Cricket match ever recorded in history.
Background
It was in the year 1844 that these two countries first played a cricket match, which was later internationally recognised and accepted as the first ever cricket match to be played.
Incidentally, this game was also believed to be the first-ever sporting contest of any kind involving rivals across international borders, in the world. And curiously though, this particular game was played in a largely cricket-unfriendly environment in St. George’s cricket club, Bloomingdale Park in the heart of New York City.
The match was believed to have been extended for 3 days between the 24th and 26th of September, as the second day’s play was interrupted due to rain.
The game was hyped to such an extent that nearly 20,000 spectators were believed to have witnessed the match. And huge amounts of money was placed in the form of bets, accounting to nearly $120,000 ($1.5 million in present-day money).
During the mid-19th century, cricket was known to be the most popular sport in the USA, with numerous clubs being formed in cities like Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City. For this particular match, USA had roped in top players from these clubs and Canada too had managed to gather players from their local clubs.
The Match
The game was scheduled for two days and the score after the first day saw Canada post 82 after the USA had won the toss and chosen to bowl first. The Americans scored 61 for 9 in reply to Canada’s total at the end of the first day of play.
Bad weather prevented play on the second day, meaning that the game was extended to a third day.
The USA were all out for 64 in their first innings and Canada scored 63 in their second innings, setting up a target of 82 runs to win for the Americans.
Canada won the match by 23 runs after restricting the home side to 58-9, as the last batsman failed to turn up for his inning.
Brief Scorecard:
Canada
First innings: 82
Second innings: 63
Best bowlers: Sam Wright – 5 wickets (first innings), Henry Groom – 5 wickets & Sam Wright – 4 wickets (second innings)
USA
First innings: 64
Second innings: 58/9
Best bowlers: David Winckworth – 4 wickets & Fred French – 4 wickets (first innings), George Sharpe – 6 wickets (second innings)
Result: Canada won the match by 23 runs.
Slow Death of the Game in the States
Cricket continued to garner a huge fan following in the USA for a very long time. However, the complexity of the game paved the way for baseball to become country's summer sport of choice.
Adding to that, there was a need for special equipment and specially prepared pitches. There was also the fact that cricket being a British sport impacted the popularity of the game in the States.
It didn’t help that the erstwhile Imperial Cricket Conference, which was formed in 1909, denied membership to the United States since it was not part of the British Empire.
The denial further dented the prospects of cricket becoming an integral part of America's sporting history.
For the people of America however, cricket continued to be their number 1 sport for a few more years after this match, until the Civil Wars and a host of other issues completely changed the scenario in the country and in the process, effectively killed off the existence of the game.
The United States National Team became an Associate member of the ICC in 1965
Present Day Situation
Cricket is slowly regaining its long-lost glory in the USA with 49 leagues currently operating in the country and more than a 1000 registered clubs. The game is evolving as a multi-cultural amateur sport and is gradually gaining popularity in all corners of the country.
Right now, the country is an associate member of the ICC. The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), which is the official cricketing board, has been working hard on popularising the game in the country.
The US team holds a unique distinction of being one of only five associate countries to participate in every qualifying tournament until 2014. Incidentally, they played in the 2004 ICC Champions trophy, losing to Australia and New Zealand in their matches.