A sliding doors moment that consigned USA cricket to pub quiz answer

The men's T20 World Cup is being hosted by nan USA and West Indies, and kicks disconnected connected Sunday greeting (01:30 BST). Here, BBC Sport looks backmost astatine nan storied history of cricket successful nan USA.

It’s nan mobility that has derailed galore a pub quiz squad complete nan years: which 2 nations contested nan first world cricket match?

If you’ve ever fallen foul of it, you will astir apt retrieve it is not England and Australia, nan countries that played nan first Test matches, including nan foundational brushwood successful 1882 astatine The Oval.

That game, won by Australia, led to nan now celebrated ‘obituary’ for English cricket published successful nan Sporting Times, and nan commencement of nan Ashes.

By then, a civilian warfare had swept distant nan roots of nan crippled successful nan spot that had really staged nan first international: nan United States of America.

It was there, connected 24 September 1844 successful New York, astatine a tract that is now slap successful nan mediate of Manhattan adjacent nan junction of First Avenue and East 31st Street, that nan USA met Canada for what galore respect arsenic nan first world brushwood successful immoderate sport, pre-dating nan America’s Cup yachting by almost 7 years.

The title was scheduled for 2 days, though rainfall meant that it ran into three.

Five 1000 group attended nan St George’s Club for nan first day’s play, and complete nan people of nan match, an estimated $100,000 (approximately $4.2m successful today's money) was gambled connected nan outcome.

The Canadians, somewhat exhausted and bedraggled by a travel that had brought them up nan St Lawrence River and crossed Lake Ontario by vessel earlier catching trains to New York, batted first and made 82 against an US onslaught that consisted solely of 2 men calved successful Yorkshire: Sam Wright and Harry Groom.

Canada’s prima was David Winckworth, who made 12 pinch nan bat earlier sending down a fewer round-arm thunderbolts of his own, taking 4 wickets arsenic nan Americans were dismissed for 64.

Winckworth again top-scored pinch 14 arsenic Canada stacked up different 63, mounting nan USA 82 to win.

The tally pursuit began well, opening brace James Turner and John Syme making 25 without nonaccomplishment earlier nan first world batting illness took clasp - George Sharpe carving done nan adjacent six wickets for conscionable 11 runs, nan Americans not helped by nan mysterious absence of their number three, George Wheatcroft.

He appeared astatine nan crushed 20 minutes aft nan last wicket had fallen and began a heated statement pinch nan Canadians complete whether nan crippled should restart truthful that he could bat. Canada stood firm: they had won by 23 runs.

The fixture began a turbulent play of to-and-fro betwixt nan sides.

They met again location and distant nan pursuing year, Canada winning both, earlier nan USA took triumph astatine a crippled successful Harlem successful 1846 amid specified bad emotion that nan fixture was not contested for different 7 years.

Perhaps immoderate of that was down to David Winckworth who, having starred for Canada successful nan first 3 matches, moved to Detroit and turned retired for nan USA successful nan 1846 game.

These matches and nan men that played successful them, now misty pinch time, propose a benignant of sliding doors moment, a chance for nan athletics of cricket to laic its roots down successful nan USA conscionable arsenic modernity was taking hold.

Brought complete by nan British, nan crippled is mentioned successful nan diaries of nan leader and planter William Bird III successful 1704.

A type known arsenic ‘wicket’ was wide capable to count George Washington arsenic a subordinate successful astatine slightest 1 crippled according to nan diary of a Valley Forge worker called George Ewing.

It wrestled pinch shot for fame to nan constituent that Professor Tim Lockley, a societal historiographer of nan American southbound astatine Warwick University, told nan Guardian newspaper: “Cricket was by acold nan biggest athletics successful this period. Then nan Civil War started successful 1861, conscionable erstwhile it was reaching its highest of popularity. The athletics became a unfortunate of that war”.

The sliding doors closed connected cricket, astatine slightest arsenic a mainstream sport.

After nan Union triumph successful 1865, a fistful of upmarket sporting clubs astir New York and Philadelphia clung onto nan crippled for a while.

Collegiate cricket flourished successful nan measurement that it did successful England’s nationalist schools.

The Philadelphian Club toured England successful 1897 and played MCC, Oxford and Cambridge Universities and astir of nan region sides, their mighty all-rounder Bart King causing a operation arsenic he destroyed a full-strength Sussex almost single-handed.

The squad returned doubly more, successful 1903, erstwhile King inspired wins complete Lancashire and Surrey, and 1908, erstwhile he topped nan nationalist bowling averages.

Once world cricket began to coalesce astir nan Imperial Cricket Conference, formed successful 1909 by England, Australia and South Africa, America was sidelined.

The surface science of cricket became nan surface science of empire: nan Indian sub-continent, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa each shared that dubious assemblage root. In turn, their admissions to world cricket and consequent first victories complete nan ‘mother country’ of England came freighted pinch meaning.

It was these diasporas that would connection a foothold to nan crippled successful America.

Dwight Eisenhower attended a crippled successful Karachi. Donald Trump tried – and grounded – to pronounce nan names of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli during a sojourn to India.

Los Angeles was location to 2 clubs that gained a grade of fame: nan Hollywood Cricket Club, which featured Boris Karloff - nan man who portrayed Frankenstein's monster connected nan large surface - among its players, and nan Compton Cricket Club, which utilized cricket to combat pack violence.

Perhaps nan astir important publication came online, from Simon King astatine nan University of Minnesota, who, successful 1993, began a proto-website that he named Cricinfo, ostensibly to trial nan possibilities of a caller mean called nan World Wide Web.

Cricket-obsessed students and researchers astir nan world began to contribute, and nan site, now ESPNCricinfo, grew into 1 of nan first and deepest online resources for immoderate sport.

Professional T20 cricket, a brainwave of nan England and Wales Cricket Board's that began successful 2003, is nan accelerated format that 21st Century civilization some demanded and embraces.

The Indian Premier League, nan form’s eventual iteration, is packed pinch globetrotting players and radiated pinch Bollywood stardust. Each of its 74 games are worthy £10.5m, a fig that puts it down only nan NFL and nan Premier League successful per-match value.

It is this operation of format and profitability that America whitethorn find intolerable to ignore.

Cricket has sought its tipping constituent since nan USA’s admittance arsenic an subordinate personnel of nan ICC successful 1965, but its history has been 1 of mismanagement and maladministration. In nan section vernacular, it has each been a spot mini time.

Cricket and football, each pinch elephantine footprints successful different parts of nan globe, person recovered America difficult to penetrate.

The US is ample capable and populous capable to prolong an internalised culture, astatine slightest successful position of its astir beloved sports of basketball, shot and gridiron.

They prosper successful America successful a measurement that they do not elsewhere successful nan world. Cricket (and football) requires nan USA to judge that it cannot predominate aliases triumph everything – astatine slightest for now – and that is simply a difficult waste to nan uncommitted.

2023 saw nan astir concerted effort truthful acold to relaunch pinch nan establishing of Major League Cricket, a franchise tourney connected nan IPL exemplary that is building stadiums successful six cities including Los Angeles, New York and Washington.

It has powerful investors pinch Indian-American roots, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe executive Shantanu Narayan.

The first play attracted white-ball names arsenic large arsenic England’s 50-over World Cup victor Jason Roy, West Indies large hitters Sunil Narine and Andre Russell and caller Aussie sensation Jake Fraser-McGurk, alongside established IPL stars Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada.

MLC will statesman its 2nd play conscionable 4 days aft nan men’s T20 World Cup final.

That World Cup will spot nan United States and Canada compete pinch nan large boys, and, successful an echo of nan sport’s root story, they will title nan tournament’s opening fixture, astatine nan Grand Prairie Stadium successful Dallas connected 1 June.

Florida and New York will subordinate Texas successful hosting matches for nan 5 sides competing successful Group A, including nan biggest crippled of them all, India against Pakistan successful New York connected 9 June.

That brushwood will clasp nan attraction of nan world and will beryllium played successful a impermanent stadium that seats 34,000 – much than tin be immoderate English Test lucifer venue isolated from Old Trafford.

Those benignant of numbers proceed to tantalise everyone that sees nan athletics having a existent and profitable early crossed nan Atlantic. In nan end, for illustration cricket itself, it’s a numbers crippled and America has ever been keen connected very large numbers.