Cricket History In USA

Cricket was played by British colonists in North America by the start of the 18th century. Baseball may be thought of as an American sport with a long and illustrious history, but cricket actually predates it. In fact, cricket was being played here before it became the United States. Archived references to cricket played in America date from 1709. A New York newspaper from 1739 contains an advertisement for cricket players and the first documented competition occurred in 1751 in Manhattan.

Perhaps many of you will be surprised to know that the first English team to tour overseas came to America in October 1859 to play the first international cricket match at Hoboken, New Jersey.

Even though baseball eventually eclipsed cricket in popularity, it drew large crowds well into the early 20th century. In 1840, the annual USA/Canada game attracted more than 10,000 spectators. If that number is scaled to reflect the current population of the United States, it would mean that if it was played today, over 100,000 people would have watched that game!