- author, Timothy Abraham
- role, BBC Sports Reporter
Late in the evening outside Baltimore, the Waltmeyer family and their extended family gathered for a traditional barbecue under hazy sunlight.
Burgers sizzle on the barbecue grill, the aroma of Maryland crab cakes fills the air, and an American flag flies from a pole in a neighbor’s yard.
The conversation ranges from politics, housing prices, traffic in Washington, DC, family life, etc. A game of wiffle ball begins, playing baseball in the yard.
Then my American father-in-law’s brother, Greg, asked, “America beat Pakistan in the World Cup cricket, right?”
Like many American families, the Waltmeyer family is passionate about sports, but the conversation quickly moves from cricket to the Orioles in major league baseball, the Ravens in the NFL, and the U.S. Open golf tournament.
There hasn’t been much talk about the USA’s appearance in the T20 World Cup Super 8. No one is aware of the fact that they will be playing England.
Herein lies the challenge for cricket in the United States.
Did it help you reach a wider audience?
The T20 World Cup could have been co-hosted in the US and would have been largely successful from a safety and organisational standpoint, with the remainder of the tournament now being played in the Caribbean.
“I don’t think we could have imagined a better ending for US cricket than their team progressing to the Super Eights,” Brett Jones, chief executive of the US T20 World Cup organising committee, told BBC Sport.
“There have been challenges but there is definitely enthusiasm for cricket in the US and a lot of the fans are in the US so it’s definitely something we can leverage in the future.”
But there is little to suggest it has made its mark on mainstream American consciousness.
Admittedly, that view is formed by anecdotal evidence from speaking to people inside and outside the stadium, rather than something more scientific or data-based.
But what seems odd is that a lot of the marketing and promotion didn’t feel like an attempt to engage with people who weren’t already involved in the sport.
A full page ad in the New York Times of the Statue of Liberty holding a cricket bat? How cool.
Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar hitting balls at a baseball batting cage? Amazing.
Footage of Ireland captain Paul Stirling broadcast to Rockefeller Centre? Yes, that’s right…
Meanwhile, there was no place inside the stadium for people watching cricket for the first time, or young people looking to take up cricket, to swing a bat or try their hand at bowling.
A missed opportunity?
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has seen an increase in new users from the United States accessing its digital platforms, from 21% in the last tournament to 61% this time around.
“The US is already one of the top four media markets for cricket in the world and we expect this growth to continue,” Daniel Kirschner, chief executive of Greenfly, a platform that aggregates and distributes content for organisations such as Major League Baseball and the NBA, told BBC Sport.
“ICC has seen a clear increase in social media numbers in the US and is working with influencers and digital agencies.”
However, all matches in the United States were shown on dedicated cricket pay channels, further limiting audience awareness.
ICC officials met with major broadcasters, including CBS and NBC, several years ago about a broadcasting agreement, but nothing came of it.
It would be difficult for cricket to succeed in the United States without the help of major media.
There will be little meaningful legacy left in New York.
The impressive 34,000-seat temporary stadium at Eisenhower Park will be demolished and the site will revert to a public park, but there is a degree of uncertainty about who will maintain the cricket ground.
A total of 151,566 fans attended the eight matches in New York, for an average attendance of 18,945. Only the India vs Pakistan match was sold out.
Tournament organisers privately admitted to BBC Sport that ticket prices for the remaining matches might have been more affordable.
For the time being, for New York cricket fans, the only live action they can watch within the city is recreational park games.
After spending $32 million (£25.2 million) on the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, it appears to be a missed opportunity.
Has the image of cricket in America changed?
Perhaps the tournament’s only real legacy is that it has helped cricket shake off its stuffy image in the United States.
One of the reasons cricket did not catch on in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries was that those in charge of cricket wanted to maintain a British character, a view not uncommon across the British Empire.
St. George’s Club, the club that hosted the first international cricket match between the United States and Canada in 1844, changed its name from New York Club in 1839 and banned American players.
The current U.S. team is made up very differently.
Four of the players were born in the United States, but the rest are American because they want to be American, an attractive quality to many in this vast and diverse country.
Fast-bowling software engineer Saurabh Netravalkar never seems to turn down an interview request, and vice-captain Aaron Jones, the United States’ leading run-scorer, spoke wisely about popularizing the sport.
Similarly, there are bits of stories off the field that capture the imagination.
American cricket journalist Peter Della Penna met Chuck, from Boynton Beach, Florida, who was trundling around in the rain at the Lauderhill ground in his Stars and Stripes overalls after a rain-out against Ireland helped the US reach the Super Eights.
“Chuck had never seen cricket in his life, but he really wanted to go and watch it,” Della Penna said.
“‘I saw them beat Pakistan. I saw them come to Florida. I want tickets! I have to root for them!'”
It appears that the first member of an organisation equivalent to the American “Barmy Army” has been born.
Meanwhile, in a late-night bar in Dallas, I was incredulous to hear a blind American man speak passionately about the joys of listening to a BBC county cricket commentator.
The passion of South Asian immigrants in the United States to play, watch and enjoy the game of cricket is likely to sustain the craze for the sport in the country for the foreseeable future.
But some key stakeholders acknowledge that at some point things will have to change in order to harness the “potential” – a word that’s thrown around whenever cricket is discussed in the United States.
“Cricket isn’t going to flourish in the U.S. if it becomes just an expatriate sport,” said Soma Somaseghar, an investor in Major League Cricket, a franchise T20 tournament that launched last year.
“We need people who can capture the media’s attention and, in turn, spark interest and inspiration among a wider audience.”