The best way to grow football is clearly through quality performances from the national team, as evidenced by the surge in interest after Pakistan’s victory. But the management doesn’t seem keen on that either. Della Penna said the board had been arguing with the players over their salaries in the months leading up to the World Cup.
Fans just starting to get interested in cricket can tune in next week for the second season of Major League Cricket, the well-funded professional league, which kicks off at two venues in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Morrisville, North Carolina. Most of Team USA’s players, as well as stars from teams such as South Africa and Australia, are scheduled to attend and are hoping to get fans in the action. “If you love baseball, think about going to see Aaron Judge hit home run after home run and then step up to bat and keep it going,” Anderson said.
I can attest that this is what cricket is all about. Unfortunately, I watched as England and West Indies players did the same to Team USA. Neither match was competitive, and the American Dream’s winning streak ended with a harsh reminder of what needs to be done. England’s Jos Buttler hit seven cricket home runs, including five off consecutive sixes, one of which went so far that it burned a ball-shaped hole in the solar panel atop Kensington Oval. Barbados’ Shay Hope did even better, hitting eight cricket home runs. The island crowd was in full jet mode as they watched their team smash ball after ball into the Bajan night sky in their national sport. When Hope ended the match with a mighty shot into the area where I was standing, all the trumpets, drums, voices, vuvuzelas and megaphones exploded into a supernova of jubilant noise.
I enjoyed my time in a cricket-loving country. Every match was on every TV and radio. There were Bajans in the bar, obviously not from Afghanistan, celebrating Afghanistan’s unexpected victory over Australia. On my last day, I played beach cricket with some locals, who didn’t seem to mind that I had no idea how to pitch a cricket ball legally. One of them saved me by diving into the ocean and making a one-handed catch, the most athletic play I’ve ever seen in any pick-up game I’ve ever played. It was all so friendly and fun that I half believed it was a pre-planned psy-op by the ICC to ensure that the American writers would return home feeling positive.
Cricket will never achieve the same popularity in the United States, which already has a dominating NFL, the most popular basketball, baseball and hockey leagues on the planet, a vast college sports ecosystem, a World Cup-winning soccer team (and, reportedly, a men’s team), and the all-time leading Olympic medal winners.
But there’s clearly room for a compelling, fun sport that already means a lot to many Americans to grow. Team USA’s play earned it a spot in the 2026 World Cup; as the host nation, it will automatically qualify for the 2028 Olympic cricket competition. Whether the players honed their skills in Ohio or half a world away, they’re Americans now, and they’re not going anywhere.
