It's been over 5 years that I've been in the USA and the first question that I get from most prospective and current graduate students and visitors arriving from the Indian subcontinent is... Is there Cricket in America???
This blog is intended towards answering this and a few other Cricket related questions for people coming to the USA. To begin, YES there is Cricket in America actually, a lot of Cricket (you'll find out towards the end of the blog).
To give readers some background on me, I started playing club and corporate cricket after 10th grade in India. Most weeks during the summer months I would have 2-3 games a week. Cricket keeps players busy in India if they are really keen (I'm not even talking about professional and first class cricketers here)
So for someone like me moving to the USA, being able to have some form of Cricket in my life was a requirement. Actually, it was one of the criteria I had set for myself while choosing universities for my Masters in the US.
Now, based on where you live in the country there is sure to be some form of Tennis Ball or Leather/Hard Ball Cricket league. Below are the names and details of Leather Ball Cricket leagues in America where I have had the fortune to play, leagues from the East Coast to the West. (If you're intending to travel/stay in regions other than the ones mentioned below a simple google search would lead you to the local cricket leagues in that area)
American College Cricket (ACC)
Since we started the blog talking about picking graduate schools based on Cricket league proximity, I would like to mention the American College Cricket first.
ACC is the biggest and probably the only functioning inter-collegiate cricket organization in the USA (it also includes a few teams from Canada). ACC organizes regional and national tournaments every year in the US. Founded in late 2008 by Mr. Lloyd Jodah, ACC has developed the sport in universities, and now has more than 70 member colleges across the US and Canada.
On a personal note, I was fortunate to be one of the founders of the University of Maryland (UMD) Terrapins Cricket Club (my graduate school team), which was one of the top teams in ACC between 2015-2018. It continues to be among the best teams playing in ACC. We were runners up in the Mid Atlantic regionals in 2015 and 2016 and also qualified for the playoffs most years we played in the nationals. I played in the ACC from 2015-2017 for UMD.
As mentioned earlier, ACC has regional tournaments in the USA, namely the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast and West. Mr. Lloyd Jodah does a commendable job in organizing and executing these games with his management team and would mostly be found on cricket fields overseeing the proceedings for games. Most of these regional games are played in the best of the cricket fields in the respective areas with state-of-the-art setup and organization in place.
In the case of UMD, we played the Mid-Atlantic regionals in the British Officers Cricket Club in Philadelphia, which has a rich history of cricket in the US. I was fortunate to be the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament in 2016 when The Terps finished as the runners up.
The Nationals of ACC have been played in Fort Lauderdale, Florida over the years. Most games are held in and around the only International Cricket Stadium in the US, the Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium.
You can follow the leagues history and other details here: https://americancollegecricket.com/
For results and teams participating in recent tournaments click: https://cricclubs.com/americancollegecricket
Washington Cricket League (WCL)
Prior to landing in America, I had already been in talks with a few teams in WCL. I got to know about the league and a few teams by searching online. I eventually started my cricket career in the USA a few days after landing in the fall of 2014. Dulles Cricket Club was my first team, which back then was one of the top teams in the Premier Division (PD).
The WCL has 3 groups, namely the Premier Division, Division 1 and Division 2. The teams participating are from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia (D.C.). The Premier Division is the most formidable and highly competitive group in the league.
PD has teams with players from the top leagues and cricket playing nations around the world. Most years, PD has former International Cricketers and First Class cricketers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean fighting it out for the championship. This keeps the competition cut throat and pretty intense in PD. Division 1 and Division 2 operate at the club cricket levels in the subcontinent and are a good place to start for most newcomers in the league. WCL has tournaments for both the T20s and 40 overs played over the months of April to October. Most of WCL games are played on matting (carpet) and astro turf wickets. The teams are divided into three groups, mentioned above for both T20 and 40 over formats. I played in the WCL between 2014-2018.
I was fortunate to captain the Dulles Cricket Club in the 2017 season where we ended up being the Lincoln Conference Champions and I was adjudged the Best Allrounder in the Division.
You can find more info about WCL here:
Washington Metropolitan Cricket Board (WMCB)
The WMCB operates in the same area as the WCL but is a different organization.
WMCB also has T20 and 40 over competitions over the summer. Most of WMCB games are played on turf and astroturf wickets.
For the T20s the WMCB has 4 groups. For the 40 overs they have two divisions. The higher groups and division are more competitive. I played in the WMCB for two years (2017-18) with two different teams. Over the years WMCB has notched up its quality of cricket and competitiveness. It is now almost standing toe-to-toe with WCL in terms of the number of local cricketers participating.
You can find more details here: https://cricclubs.com/wmcbleague
Between the WCL and the WMCB there are one or two games almost every weekend, if a player is registered with teams participating in both leagues in the summer months.
All of this creates great opportunities for cricket fanatics to be on the field for the sunny and warm weekends in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area.
Massachusetts State Cricket League (MSCL)
I had the good fortune of interning with one of the top US companies in Boston in the summer of 2015. While there in the summer months my number one plan for spending the weekends (besides exploring the beautiful city) was playing some club cricket. I had reached out to a few clubs before I had landed in the city and decided to play with the Colonial Cavaliers.
The MSCL has 5 divisions of 6 teams each for the 40 over flagship tournament during the summer. Most of the cricket in MSCL is played on astro turf wickets. I would definitely rate the outfields in this league amongst the best in the country, of those I've played. Also, cricket here has a very good social culture where most of the team has lunches and/or dinners together on game days. The league also mandates the home team to provide lunches for all the players on gameday, something that other leagues like the WCL and WMCB should quickly adapt.
Here's a link to the leagues website: https://mscl.org/
Overall I had a pretty decent season myself and left the city with good cricket memories.
Most teams also play tournaments in states around Massachusetts. I was lucky to have participated in a few games in Rhode Island and Connecticut for different teams, through the contacts I made through MSCL. Here's a picture from when I debuted for Milford CC along with the link for the Connecticut Cricket League (CCL)
Bay Area Cricket Alliance (BACA)
My engineering aspirations got me to move from the East Coast to the West, right to the heart of the Bay Area. I moved here in April of 2019, which coincided with with the beginning of the summer cricket season. Perfect Timing!. I joined the Hayward Lions Cricket Club for the regular 45 over and T20 games for the summer season of the Bay Area Cricket Alliance (BACA).
BACA has two pools for T20s whereas the 45 over tournament has one group with all teams. Each team plays 14 games in each format, so you can imagine it is a pretty busy summer if you're fully committed (which I am ..sigh!).
Like MSCL the home teams in BACA for the 45 over games are responsible for lunches for all the players. All games in this league are played on astroturf wickets and the outfields are decent. This league also is the only one I've played in the US that uses two balls for either ends in the 45 overs format. This helps keep the balls hard throughout the game, a probable cause for higher scores.
Also, thanks to the good weather year-round on the West Coast, the leagues here run tournaments throughout the year.
BACA does a 25 over tournament in the winter season lasting between November and March. Many of your cricket friends around the country would envy you for this as not many states have cricket in the winter.
In my debut season I ended up being Rank 2 (out of 430 players) in the 45 overs and Rank 3 (out of 689 players) in the T20s for the summer season of 2019. I also scored my first 2 centuries in the USA this season.
Here's the link to the website of the league: http://www.bayareacricket.org/baca
North California Cricket Association (NCCA)
NCCA is the second league operating in the Bay Area. Many of the current USA cricketers play in this league, suggesting that the performances here count if you have aspirations to play for the national team. The 45/50 overs is the flagship tournament for the NCCA. They also do the T20s during the summer and winter seasons.
The 50 over format is played only in the Premier Division A. Like other divisions(B and C), the Premier Division A has 9 teams, and hence, the teams play 16 league games. Premier Divisions B through D play the 45 over format. Unlike other divisions the D Division has 12 teams. The newer teams in the league start from D hence the higher team count in this Division.
The T20s have two groups and have much less participation (a total of 11 teams).
The top 2 divisions are highly competitive, and unlike BACA, this league only uses one ball every innings of a game.
I have played for two teams in my short span here, one in group C (Stanford CC) and one in group B (Berkeley CC). The quality of cricket (at least in the higher divisions) and organization in general is better in NCCA when compared to BACA. One possible reason for this is that NCCA has a bigger and better structured management group. It has also been around for longer.
Here's a link for NCCA: http://www.nccacricket.org/NCCA
Link to my cricclub profile with stats from all the leagues mentioned above: https://cricclubs.com/baca/viewPlayer.do?playerId=596511&clubId=1755
I previously touched on the topic of being selected for the USA National Team, which has in recent years improved by leaps and bounds on the International stage. Some years, USA Cricket, sets up combines in a few major cricketing centers around the country. A few people get selected for the team through this process. Most times, the combines are open for walk-ins on the first day. Although walk-ins are allowed, being on the lookout for such events on the USA Cricket website mentioned below, and signing up, makes things way easier.
USA Cricket website: https://www.usacricket.org/
Stats from the USA Combines 2018 (2 50vers and 1 T20)
Most regional leagues mentioned above also offer prize money tournaments for T20 and T10 over long weekends, like the 4th of July or Labor Day weekends. I have played a couple such tournaments, namely the Bangladeshi Cricket League (BCL) and the BACA 4th of July Tournament.
In addition to local cricket leagues in the US, there are also many US-based cricket stores and vendors providing the much needed equipment for this ever-growing sport.
Over the years, I've used bats, balls, and other cricket gear from many vendors in the US, but one brand stands out when it comes to low costs and highly durable quality.
The name of the vendor is Adi Sports USA, which is based out of Baltimore and has an online store as well on https://www.asusanow.com/
Thanks for reading my first Blog on Cricket. I hope you have found answers to some of your questions on how to get started with Cricket in the United States of America!