Hyderabad: Did you know? Cricket was once upon a time America’s National Game! Today, it is trying to make its mark back into the American sporting psyche with ICC’s $1 billion intervention for revival in the land of opportunities.
The journey that the cherry has taken since that first recorded Cricket match in 1751, has largely been amid consistent loss of buzz around the sport which finally plummeted into disdain, disinterest and devaluation of the game in popular minds.
For the emerging liberal economy that the US was finally going to lead, a five-day game was too time-consuming, too complex and way too boring.
Baseball, on the other hand, which too came in through the colonial route and was somewhat like Cricket, caught the imagination with its three-hour timespan, simple rules, and uncomplicated game plans. Both were hit the ball and run kind of games, but where Baseball scored over Cricket was in its format and timeframe.
Was doable, enjoyable and an evening outing to go back from with time spent well – as opposed to returning to the field at breakfast, staying through lunch and lingering on till evening tea for three to five days, waiting for resumption and result.
Add to this, the vagaries of the American Civil War and the two World Wars which took away the gloves from the game and the bowler gave way to the pitcher, the Cricket bat to the Baseball bat, the wickets to bases, and the rectangle in between a huge circle to a sparkling diamond with a lot more lure for the public. In short, that was the great American shift from the entirely colonial game of Cricket to homegrown Baseball which had its moorings in imperial Britain but grew with improvisations all American.
What we see today, in Baseball is an entirely homegrown version that argues for its entirely American lineage. One popular theory is that Americans now stick to is that Baseball was never a colonial legacy but it evolved from a game called Town Ball, which was played in the early 19th century in the United States.
The first recorded Baseball game took place in 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey, between the Knickerbocker Baseball Club and the New York Nine. The Knickerbocker rules, written by Alexander Cartwright, are one of the earliest formalisations of the game of Baseball. Over the years, as Cricket receded into unknown pockets, Baseball grew in popularity in the US, with the formation of professional leagues such as the National League in 1876.
The sport continued to evolve, with changes to rules, equipment, and gameplay, eventually emerging as America's pastime. While Baseball's roots may arguably lie in English bat-and-ball games, it was in America that it took shape and developed into the sport Americans know and take pride in today.
Unlike Cricket which did not improvise in any way to relate to the changing culture of America which was taking long strides away from its colonial past. Down the years, or should we say centuries, other sports like American Soccer and Tennis, found their way into the American psyche though both put together could never challenge the ultimate supremacy of Baseball.
While Cricket was constantly struggling to make its way into national sports by getting into schools and colleges without much success, both Baseball and the Super Bowl (America’s pinnacle soccer event) made big strides with significant cultural impact.
Baseball flexed its muscle with 162 games a season as America's pastime rooted in its history and culture. Super Bowl, with its 16-game annual season, on the other hand, has become a major cultural event, a live TV gala, with parties, gatherings and celebrations held across the country, much like the IPL back home in India.
While the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League, may attract more viewers for a single event, Baseball's overall attendance and cultural significance contribute to its enduring popularity in American sports. Today, both sports have passionate fan bases and play important roles in American sports culture, where tennis is the third icon of sporting dreams in the land of opportunities.
Flushing Meadows is the place to be in America during September of every year. It is also the venue of the last Grand Slam of the year for Open Era Tennis which has grown into a rich sport in America, powered by technology, sponsorships and achievements of its playing greats. Cricket, in America, has a spartan presence, let alone icons.
Tennis has a long and storied history dating back to 1870 when it was introduced through tennis clubs founded in New York and Boston. The sport's popularity spread quickly, and by the late 19th century, tennis had become a favourite pastime among the upper class. The Open Era in tennis, which began in 1968, threw up many American top players like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi on the men's side, and Chris Evert, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams on the women's side.
These players pushed tennis' popularity in America and around the world. This means that the American sporting middle is a crowded space with rigid fans and a very tight space for the re-entry of a past legend like Cricket. So, today, when the ICC has boldly decided to bring Cricket back into popular imagination through its quick and fiery T20 World Cup format, it will be fighting against many odds – starting from the lack of rememberable history of the game.
They will be also fighting the more established ones like Super Bowl, Basketball, Tennis and even Golf in the jam-packed space of rockstar sporting quickies.
Will it pay off? Hope flutters eternal, and in the case of America, 20 million cricket lovers, including 50 lakh Indians, an equal number of Pakistanis, 3 lakh Bangladeshis and around 1 lakh Sri Lankans who play, love and depend on TV to watch Cricket, have recorded a sellout of tickets in the US run of the tournament starting on June 2, 2024.
Of course, the June 2 to June 19 run in the US before the tournament moves on to the knockout stages in the Caribbean, has got only the group stage matches for starters, with India and Pakistan being the highlight teams to begin their campaign in alien environs of baseball-soccer-tennis-golf haven that Big Sam is. But this opening partnership with the syrupy Caribbean just needs a few boundaries and a quickfire aerial route to catch the American imagination.
After all, it is now just three hours, comes with pace and has learned to invade with a lot of glitzy GenZ festoonery on the sidelines to decorate the middle.
