United States cricket officials hope the team's stunning tournament victory in the Middle East will spark Americans' interest in a game where the bats are flat and balls are stuffed with hard cork.
The US team won the Six Nations Challenge limited-overs event on debut on Saturday, and qualified for the prestigious Champion Trophy in England in September for the first time.
"We have been looking for a starting point, and this victory will be the launching pad for cricket in America," said Gerald Singh, a board member of the United States of America Cricket Association.
He said the association was inundated with congratulatory calls from home and abroad after the US edged 2003 World Cup entrants the Netherlands, Namibia and Canada, along with Scotland and the host United Arab Emirates.
"We are so happy and thrilled with this victory, it has came as a surprise to all of us," said Singh, speaking by telephone from his home in Suffolk County, New York.
The Americans finished tied for three wins with the Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, and Emirates, and qualified first on net run rate, with .550542 to Scotland's .522868.
In the final round on Saturday, the US team beat Scotland by five wickets in 47.2 overs. If Scotland had lasted five balls longer, it would have won the tournament, said event manager Tim Anderson.
"It's like the Americans sneaked in from the back door," Anderson said.
The Champions Trophy features cricket's top nations, and the US joins World Cup winner Australia and New Zealand in Pool 1.
The US is an associate member of the International Cricket Council, and its 19th-century trailblazers helped to start baseball in America.
While cricket is the rage in England, the Indian subcontinent and Down Under, it is played in all 50 US states, mostly by immigrants or first and second-generation Americans. There are major cricket centers in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Chicago and Texas.
In the United States, cricket continues to be an amateur sport, mostly played in public parks on weekends. There are 29 established leagues, 500 clubs and more than 10,000 players nationwide.
"When they came here, everyone thought the US side was weak and that they will not make it very far in the tournament," said Shah Hussein, the Emirates liaison officer of the American squad.
"But they proved otherwise and it was a big shock for everyone," Hussein said.
Anderson agreed. "I think the US performed beyond everyone's expectations. I think everyone is still in a state of shock."
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS