Cricket, the quintessential English sport, was once more popular than baseball in the United States, a fact that is hard to believe or comprehend now. Today, cricket is the second most watched sport in the world, next only to soccer. While only around 10 countries play the sport at the highest level (Test matches), almost 100 countries play at associate or other leagues within the International Cricket Council (ICC) structure.
Baseball, though very similar to cricket since it is also a bat and ball sport, has only a limited footprint, being played at the highest level only in the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea and a few other countries. But one cannot deny that the sport has a huge following in these countries. But interest in cricket in both US and Canada was rekindled with the arrival of immigrants from South Asia, where cricket reigns supreme.
After all, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have all won the Cricket World Cup. This led to the formation of cricket clubs in the main cities of Canada and US. Gradually, the native population also began to note this intriguing sport.
As these clubs blossomed to the point of having tournaments, another groundbreaking development was taking place in the cricket world. Let’s face it, Test cricket, though undoubtedly the purest form of the sport, can be rather boring, compared to sports such as football and baseball, which generally run only for three or a maximum four hours. On the other hand, even a 50 overs cricket match runs for a fu.
