The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) is the official governing body for cricket in the United States. USACA was founded in 1905 and was a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) until 2013 when it withdrew from ICC due to differences over governance issues. In September 2015, after months of negotiation between USACA and USA Cricket Inc., an agreement was reached whereby both organizations would cooperate on matters affecting them jointly rather than having separate bodies that each operated independently from one another. USACA remains based in Indianapolis while USA Cricket has relocated its headquarters to Dallas where they continue to operate under its existing brand name but with help from its parent company, MCC Group.
Cricket was played in America as early as 1709. It’s mentioned in the Boston News Letter, which was published on October 23, 1709. The newspaper stated: “This day we find by an old manuscript book that the game of cricket was invented by one Samuel Johnson about 40 years ago. “The paper also reported on two games of cricket being played in Boston at that time; one that took place at Bowdoin College and another between Harvard College and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
The first permanent cricket club was formed in New York City in 1838. It was called the St George’s Cricket Club, and it played its matches on St George’s Ground in Manhattan.
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The first cricket match in America took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 14th, 1854. The event was organized by the Philadelphia Cricket Club and was played between teams from London and New York City. The New York Cricket Club was founded in 1831, but it wasn’t until the 1850s that they started playing matches outside of New York City itself—and even then they didn’t travel very far; their first away game was against a club based just outside of Philadelphia.
Between 1840 and 1965, cricketers from Britain and Australia visited the United States to play friendly matches against teams representing various regions of the country. American all-rounder Abid Ali Najji, who plays for the Houston Cricket Club, became the first player from the state of Texas to be named a national team member.
On July 1, 1868, a visiting All-England XI played against an All-Philadelphia/New York side on St George’s Cricket Ground in New Jersey. The match was played at St George’s Cricket Ground in New Jersey and was the first professional sporting event held in the United States. All-England XI beat their hosts by six runs in front of an estimated crowd of around 50,000 people.
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