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.”