Cricket and America - two words that rarely appear in the same sentence without a smirk or a shrug. Yet, as authors Beth Simpson and Mark Greenslade reveal in their new book "An American Cricket Odyssey," the game’s roots here run deeper than most realize — and its revival is one of the great under-told stories in modern sport.
We trace the sport’s improbable journey - from its 19th-century heyday, when Philadelphia was a global cricket power; to its near extinction after baseball gained popularity; and finally to its 21st-century rebirth, fueled by immigrant passion and the game's modern-day incarnation, Twenty20 (T20). Along the way, Simpson and Greenslade take us inside the subcultures that have kept US cricket alive - from South Central LA's Compton Cricket Club to equal rights-seeking women cricketers to youth development programs from Bronx, NY high schools to suburban North Carolina ballfields.
We also tackle the political dysfunction, internal corruption and repeated false starts that have haunted American cricket for decades - including the 2019 collapse of the USACA national governing body, its not-much-better replacement USA Cricket, and the additionally complicating factor of International Cricket Council (ICC) recognition.
And of course, we examine the handful of attempts to make pro cricket stick in the States from 2004’s erstwhile Pro Cricket to today's ambitious Major League Cricket, backed by nearly a billion dollars of domestic and global investment - and ask whether this latest experiment can finally overcome the sport’s chronic infighting and infrastructure gaps.
It’s a journey through sport, culture, and identity - one that reveals how America keeps rediscovering cricket, and why the game still struggles to find its true home on US soil.
