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    The Indian Eye
                                            STUMP VISION                                                                                    47
                                                                                                                         JULY 10, 2026

                            FROM THE UK TO US: HOW CRICKET WENT GLOBAL
                                                                                    America has always been a coun-
                                              coming talent pipelines where Amer-
                                                                                try built on reinvention, and cricket’s
                                              ican-born players develop alongside
                                              experienced international cricketers.   revival  perfectly  reflects  that  spir-
                                                                                it. The game has travelled from the
                   rom  English  village  greens  to  the  Indian   tralia. By the mid-19th century, it had become the   gering a cricket boom that reshaped the sport’s
                                              That pathway is essential if the Unit-
                                              ed States hopes to become a consis-
                   subcontinent, Australia, Africa, and North   country’s leading summer sport.        economics and popularity.
                                                                                site of the world’s first international
              FAmerica                        tently competitive cricket nation.                             1992–2000s: Cricket goes truly global
                                                                1844: First international cricket match
                       16th Century (c. 1550–1590):
                           Origins in England                Canada and the United States played the       Colored clothing, floodlit day-night matches
                  Cricket  is  believed  to  have  originated  in   world’s  first  officially  recognized  international   and satellite television expanded cricket’s world-
              southeastern England, where children played a   sporting  contest  in  New  York—more  than  three   wide audience. South Africa returned to interna-
                                                                                                       tional cricket after apartheid, while Sri Lanka’s
                                                          decades before Test cricket.
              bat-and-ball game in rural villages. By the early                                        1996 World Cup victory broadened the game’s
              17th century, adults had adopted the sport.   1860s–1890s: Expansion to Africa and the Caribbean
                                                                                                       competitive landscape.
                       1744: The first Laws of Cricket       Cricket spread across South Africa, the West         2008: The T20 revolution
                                                          Indies,  New  Zealand  and  other  British  colonies.
                  The earliest formal rules were written in
                                                                                                           The launch of the Indian Premier League
              England, helping standardize the game. Crick-  South Africa played its first Test in 1889.   transformed  cricket  into  a  global  entertain-
              et soon became the country’s premier summer            1877: Birth of Test cricket       ment  product,  attracting  players  from  every
              sport.
                                                             England and Australia played the first official   major cricketing nation and generating billions
               1787: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) established  Test match in Melbourne, marking the beginning   in revenue.
                                                          of international cricket’s longest format.
                  The formation of the Marylebone Cricket                                                          2010s: New frontiers
              Club at Lord’s in London made it the guardian of        1882: The Ashes begins               Associate nations such as Afghanistan, Ire-
              cricket’s laws, a role it held for nearly two centuries.   Australia’s victory over England at The Oval   land and Nepal emerged as competitive forces,
                         Late 18th–19th Century:          gave rise to the legendary The Ashes, one of sport’s   while franchise leagues spread to Australia, the
                    Cricket travels with the British Empire  oldest rivalries.                         Caribbean, South Africa, the UAE and the Unit-
                  British soldiers, sailors, civil servants and                                        ed States.
              merchants introduced cricket across the empire,      1932: India enters Test cricket           2023: Major League Cricket launches
              making it a symbol of colonial culture.        India played its first Test match at Lord’s, be-       in the United States
                                                          ginning its journey toward becoming cricket’s glob-
                1800s: Cricket reaches the Indian subcontinent
                                                          al powerhouse.                                   The inaugural Major League Cricket marked
                  The  game  arrived  in  India  through  Brit-                                        cricket’s biggest commercial push into the Amer-
              ish military garrisons and trading ports such as     1975: First Cricket World Cup       ican market, supported by investors from the IPL
              Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. The Parsi com-    England hosted the inaugural Cricket World   and technology sectors.
              munity  became  the  first  Indians  to  embrace   Cup,  launching  cricket’s  premier  global  tourna-  2024: Cricket returns to the Olympics roadmap
              cricket, followed by Hindus, Muslims and other   ment.
              communities.                                                                                 The sport gained renewed global visibility af-
                                                          1983: India’s World Cup triumph transforms the sport
                   1803–1830s: Cricket arrives in Australia                                            ter International Olympic Committee approved
                                                             India’s unexpected victory over the West In-  cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics,
                  British settlers introduced cricket to Aus-  dies inspired millions across the subcontinent, trig-  ending a 128-year Olympic absence.

            Games after more than a century,                                                                      sporting  event  to  modern  profes-
            the opportunity could not be bigger.                                                                  sional  stadiums  filled  with  diverse
            Competing in front of home crowds                                                                     audiences. It has evolved from com-
            at LA28 could become the defining                                                                     munity  leagues  into  a  billion-dollar
            moment that inspires an entirely new                                                                  business  opportunity,  from  immi-
            generation of American cricketers.                                                                    grant passion to mainstream sporting
                The foundation for that future                                                                    ambition, and from a forgotten chap-
            is  being  built  far  away  from  inter-                                                             ter of American history to an exciting
            national stadiums. Across Califor-                                                                    vision for its future.
            nia, Texas, New Jersey, Florida and                                                                       As the nation marks 250 years
            other  metropolitan  regions,  cricket                                                                of  independence,  cricket  is  writing
            academies are growing at an unprec-                                                                   its own new chapter, one built on
            edented pace. Thousands of children                                                                   investment, opportunity, youth de-
            now train year-round under quali-                                                                     velopment and belief. If the past was
            fied  coaches,  while  schools  increas-                                                              about  rediscovering  cricket,  the  fu-
            ingly include cricket as part of their                                                                ture is about establishing the United
            sporting  programmes.  Metropolitan                                                                   States as one of the sport’s most ex-
            leagues  have  also  become  stronger,                                                                citing frontiers. At 250, America isn’t
            offering structured competitions that                                                                 just celebrating history, it may also be
            bridge  the  gap  between  grassroots                                                                 witnessing the birth of cricket’s next
            cricket  and  the  professional  game.                                                                global powerhouse.
            These  local  leagues  are  no  longer   The United States stunned the cricket world during the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup by   Archan Mehta is a writer dedicated
            simply weekend competitions for                       reaching the Super Eight stage (File)           to telling compelling stories about ath-
            expatriate communities; they are be-                                                                  letes, teams, and the world of cricket

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