United States National Cricket Team: Overview, History and Analysis

In international cricket, the United States is represented by the national cricket team of the country. The team was formerly run by the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), which joined the International Cricket Council (ICC) as an associate member in 1965. Due to governance and financial concerns, the USACA was expelled by the ICC in June 2017. ICC Americas temporarily took over management of the American squad until a new sanctioning organisation was established. USA Cricket received official associate membership in January 2019.

In 1844, the United States dispatched a team to play Canada in the inaugural international cricket game. The American national team played few international matches during a century and a half. It usually faced off against Canadian opposition (in the yearly Auty Cup) or foreign teams that were on tour.

The 1979 ICC Trophy in England marked the United States’ first appearance in an international event; since then, it has only missed two of the competition’s iterations (now known as the World Cup Qualifier). The team participated in its first two One Day International (ODI) games after winning the 2004 ICC Six Nations Challenge, which qualified them for the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy.

All of the Twenty20 International (T20I) members received full status from the ICC in April 2018. All Twenty20 games between the United States and other ICC members played after January 1, 2019, are therefore full T20Is. The United States was slated to play their first-ever T20 International match against the United Arab Emirates in March 2019.

The US lost to Papua New Guinea in the World Cricket League third place playoff, which was classified as an ODI and became the US’ third-ever ODI match, 15 years after their last. The US placed fourth in the 2019 Division Two tournament. This fourth-place showing was sufficient to guarantee the nation a spot in 2019–22. Cricket World Cup League 2 of the ICC which would grant ODI status to each of the team’s games. On September 13, 2019, the team hosted Papua New Guinea and Namibia in the inaugural domestic ODI series.

2000–2009 is the 21st Century

In the 2001 ICC Trophy, the USA’s sixth-place finish was their best to date. They have also participated in every ICC Americas Championship, taking first place in 2002.

As part of the inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, the American cricket team participated in a first-class match. The contests with Canada and Bermuda were the first in a long time. By defeating Scotland, Namibia, the Netherlands, and the UAE by 0.028 of a run-on net run rate, the team won the ICC 6 Nations Challenge.

They qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy in England in 2004 thanks to their victory in the ICC Six Nations. On September 10, 2004, at The Oval, the USA played New Zealand in their inaugural One Day International game.

0 September 2004 Scorecard

 

New Zealand  347/4 (50 overs)	v	United States 137 (42.4 overs)
Nathan Astle 145* (151) Richard Staple 2/76 (10 overs)		Clayton Lambert 39 (84) Jacob Oram 5/36 (9.4 overs)

New Zealand triumphed by 210 runs.

Billy Doctrove (WI) and David Shepherd, umpires, The Oval, London (Eng)

Nathan Astle was the winner of the game (NZ):

• After winning the toss, the United States decided to field.
• Several American players, including Aijaz Ali, Rohan Alexander, Jignesh Desai, Howard Johnson, Mark Johnson, Steve Massiah, Rashid Zia, Tony Reid, Leon Romero, and Richard Staple, made their ODI debuts.
• The USA’s Rashid Zia debuted on List A.
• The highest-ever individual score in ICC Champions Trophy history was made by Nathan Astle (NZ).
• USA’s inaugural ODI match

2010–2015

After losing the championship match against Nepal, the USA placed second in Division Five in 2010 and was awarded promotion to Division Four By winning Division Four in 2010 and crushing Italy in the championship, they strengthened their ascent even more. They were demoted to Division Four in 2012 after finishing last in 2011 Division Three, where they had been promoted. Due to their second place showing, they were promoted back to Division Three for 2013. They came in third in 2013 and remained in Division Three, however they were dropped the following year after placing fifth.

2015 Revocation

The ICC once again suspended USACA on June 26, 2015, this time due to “serious concerns regarding the governance, finances, reputation, and cricketing operations of USACA” that were raised during the ICC review. The National Team’s matches are unaffected by this suspension; however, it removes ICC financing and prevents USACA from approving any events staged in the country (although the ICC can still approve events held in the United States). The ICC will uphold this ban until USACA can demonstrate that “conditions relating to governance, funding, and its cricket activities” have changed.

Switching to USA Cricket and Cricket World Cup League 2 since 2017

The American national team, during their Middle East tour in December 2017. Following a Board proposal in April and a recent Dispute Resolution Committee hearing before Michael Beloff, which was ended in June 2017, the ICC Full Council unanimously decided to remove the USACA on June 22, 2017, at the ICC Annual Conference in London. This included its denial to ratify a constitution that the ICC had endorsed. A new governing body called USA Cricket was formally accepted by the ICC as a new associate member in January 2019.

The Twenty20 International (T20I) status was conferred to all ICC members as of 2019. On March 15, 2019, the United States played its first T20I at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai against the United Arab Emirates.

15 March 2019 14:00 Scorecard

 

United States  152/7 (15 overs)	v	United Arab Emirates 29/2 (3.3 overs)
Steven Taylor 72 (39) Zahoor Khan 2/30 (3 overs)		Shaiman Anwar 18* (11) Jasdeep Singh 2/18 (2 overs)

Not a thing happened.

Abu Dhabi ICC Academy Ground

Iftikhar Ali and Akbar Ali are the umpires (UAE)

• After winning the toss, United Arab Emirates decided to field.
• There was no more play after the United Arab Emirates’ inning due to rain.
• United States’ first-ever T20I game.

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