Cricket’s popularity in the USA continues to rise, no more so than in New Jersey according to the Daily Record.
And cricket is fast emerging in this country, after lying dormant for some two centuries under the wraps of old Philadelphia money, snoozing behind the walls of the Merion Cricket Club, or across the tracks at Quaker-strong Haverford College, where young scholars have been "cricketing" since 1833.
Cities have always seen their immigrant newcomers bring pastimes to U.S. playing fields. The first recognized, modern baseball game, descended from cricket and a game called "rounders," was played in 1846 at Hoboken's Elysian Fields.
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"The unique thing about cricket is you bring so many different peoples from so many walks of life, so many nationalities, ethnicities, religions," said Rouse, whose novel "Sticky Wicket, Volume I -- Watkins at Bat" is a cricketing story set in the imaginary Fernwood, N.J., which Rouse modeled after a Cherry Hill or an Edison.
"These are people who ordinarily would not have much in common. But you mention cricket and they all can identify with it," said Rouse, a college educator.
Cricket's rise is not without conflict. There are more teams vying with one another for playing space, and thereafter vying for the same space -- called "the pitch" in cricket parlance -- with other more-common sports, such as soccer or softball.
Comments
Posted by: Roger Humphries at September 24, 2007 11:16 AM
Good to hear cricket popularity is on the increase in USA
Posted by: Neil Bostock at September 30, 2007 1:16 PM
But this is misleading. I've played cricket in NJ for 20 years. Outside of the players and their families, nobody knows it exists. It is completely and totally divorced from the mainstream sporting culture. A majority of Americans I speak to don't even know that cricket is a sport, let alone how it is played. The issue of cricket's "success" in the US is a complete dead end, and a waste of time for the ICC and Mr. Speed.
Posted by: Jonathan Munro at September 30, 2007 1:54 PM
As an Aussie living in NJ for the last 16 years. it's wonderful to see cricket being played. The first time I saw a game being played I thought my eyes were playing tricks. Now it's not uncommon to see a game on the weekend being played. From ex-pat Englishmen, Indians, Pakistanis and West Indians. The players and fans are always friendly and up for a chat. It is a great way to mix people from all different nationalities, languages, religions and races. The more of it the merrier.
Posted by: Neil Bostock at September 30, 2007 9:28 PM
Couldn't agree with you more, Jonathan, but I don't see the sport spreading outside the immigrant communities, as the ICC would like.
Posted by: Ewart Rouse at January 23, 2008 6:00 PM
Tom Baldwin accurately reported that cricket is growing in popularity in New Jersey. The numbers speak for themselves. In 1980, there was one cricket league in the state, the New Jersey Cricket Association, and it comprised 12 clubs. Today there are four established leagues in the state with roughly 100 clubs. In addition, there are dozens of clubs throughout the state not affiliated with any league. I know this because I was one of the founding members of the first league and have been involved in organizing cricket games every since. For proof of the proliferation of clubs, one merely has to do an on-line search, using the search words "cricket" "New" "Jersey." It is true that cricket has remained a largely immigrant sport, not yet mainstream. If you read his article carefully, Baldwin never wrote that it had become mainstream. He wrote about its "emergence" after a long period of dormancy. With its rapid growth in New Jersey and in other states it eventually could become mainstream.
Posted by: Ewart Rouse at January 23, 2008 6:00 PM
Tom Baldwin accurately reported that cricket is growing in popularity in New Jersey. The numbers speak for themselves. In 1980, there was one cricket league in the state, the New Jersey Cricket Association, and it comprised 12 clubs. Today there are four established leagues in the state with roughly 100 clubs. In addition, there are dozens of clubs throughout the state not affiliated with any league. I know this because I was one of the founding members of the first league and have been involved in organizing cricket games every since. For proof of the proliferation of clubs, one merely has to do an on-line search, using the search words "cricket" "New" "Jersey." It is true that cricket has remained a largely immigrant sport, not yet mainstream. If you read his article carefully, Baldwin never wrote that it had become mainstream. He wrote about its "emergence" after a long period of dormancy. With its rapid growth in New Jersey and in other states it eventually could become mainstream.
Posted by: Jeremy at June 7, 2008 4:10 AM
As an englishman living in NJ for the last 4 years and now living in Denville I would be interested in anyones thoughts on how i can get involved with some local cricket. I have searched the web but its all a blur and hard to identify a "local" team or any idea of the standard of the competition.
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