United States cricket officials hope the team's stunning tournament victory in the Middle East will spark Americans' interest in a game where the bats are flat and balls are stuffed with hard cork.
The US team won the Six Nations Challenge limited-overs event on debut on Saturday, and qualified for the prestigious Champion Trophy in England in September for the first time.
"We have been looking for a starting point, and this victory will be the launching pad for cricket in America," said Gerald Singh, a board member of the United States of America Cricket Association.
He said the association was inundated with congratulatory calls from home and abroad after the US edged 2003 World Cup entrants the Netherlands, Namibia and Canada, along with Scotland and the host United Arab Emirates.
"We are so happy and thrilled with this victory, it has came as a surprise to all of us," said Singh, speaking by telephone from his home in Suffolk County, New York.
The Americans finished tied for three wins with the Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia, and Emirates, and qualified first on net run rate, with .550542 to Scotland's .522868.
In the final round on Saturday, the US team beat Scotland by five wickets in 47.2 overs. If Scotland had lasted five balls longer, it would have won the tournament, said event manager Tim Anderson.
"It's like the Americans sneaked in from the back door," Anderson said.
The Champions Trophy features cricket's top nations, and the US joins World Cup winner Australia and New Zealand in Pool 1.
The US is an associate member of the International Cricket Council, and its 19th-century trailblazers helped to start baseball in America.
While cricket is the rage in England, the Indian subcontinent and Down Under, it is played in all 50 US states, mostly by immigrants or first and second-generation Americans. There are major cricket centers in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Chicago and Texas.
In the United States, cricket continues to be an amateur sport, mostly played in public parks on weekends. There are 29 established leagues, 500 clubs and more than 10,000 players nationwide.
"When they came here, everyone thought the US side was weak and that they will not make it very far in the tournament," said Shah Hussein, the Emirates liaison officer of the American squad.
"But they proved otherwise and it was a big shock for everyone," Hussein said.
Anderson agreed. "I think the US performed beyond everyone's expectations. I think everyone is still in a state of shock."
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
RSS