Cricket used to be Popular in Many Different Countries

It is a common assumption that cricket is a sport with limited popularity, opposed to football, being played widely only in a handful of countries like the UK, Australia, South Africa, West Indies and the Indian subcontinent. However, the game was hugely popular in a number of countries that were British colonies through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Varied circumstances brought an end to the popularity of the game in many of these countries, including some mentioned below.

It is indeed surprising to know that cricket was the most popular game in the USA during the late 18th and early 19th century. The first international cricket match may have been played between the USA and Canada and the event was attended by about 10,000 spectators. But after this, the country was overtaken by the civil war and at the end of it, a new game had appeared – baseball.

While cricket was the “gentleman’s game” generally played by the elite, baseball gained a reputation as being a game of the masses. Unlike cricket, which needed a an appropriate pitch; baseball only needed a bat and a ball. This and the increase in popularity of games like basketball, golf and tennis in the country made cricket an all but extinct game in the USA.

Similar to the USA, cricket was a very popular game in Canada and was even declared the national game of the country. But the same factors that affected the growth of the game in the USA, affected Canada too. The rough Canadian weather was another barrier that hindered the progress of the game in the country. Over the last few decades, the game has seen a steady resurgence thanks to the steady flow of immigrants from the Indian Subcontinent, where there is a large cricket community and the national cricket team was even selected to participate in three successive World Cups.

Cricket was the predominant game in Malaysia until the country gained its independence. The basis for this was that the game was played largely by British men who lived there and once they moved away, the game was restricted to a small minority.

The sport was also a widely played game in the island nation of Fiji. Most cricket teams, en route to Australia and New Zealand, played a few games against Fiji. However, rugby has taken over as the most popular sport as is, perhaps, more suited to their physical attributes than playing cricket.

Another British colony, Burma, once beat Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the late 1920s, although both teams had British players. This was one of the cases where the game spread to the masses. But most of the local Burmese were of Indian origin and with the invasion of Burma by the Japanese in 1941, the Indians had to flee to their home country and with this, the popularity of the game also diminished.

John Casson is a contributing writer for the Imagine Sports Network which provides baseball, tennis, and cricket news. He has written about multiple sports and has followed cricket matches for many years and he has posted on cricket blogs as well as cricket forums.