Sport is an obsession for billions around the world, and there aren’t many sports in the world that have a richer history, one going back hundreds of years, than our sport of cricket.
Cricket in the United States though has a particularly rich history going over three centuries, see the fantastic new History section of the USA Cricket website for some of the amazing details dating well back into the 18th century.
And not only does United States Cricket have a unique history in a cricketing context, but in fact across every single sporting code there is one record that can never be taken away from US or indeed Canadian cricket.
“The first sports international, in ANY sporting code, played between two countries happened in 1844, when USA hosted Canada in cricket in New York.”
This was the first official international match of any kind, anywhere in the world so the 24th of September should always hold a special significance for all cricket and indeed sports lovers.
More #ThrowbackThursday on USA Cricket History
1844: The first international match IN ANY SPORT took place between the USA and Canada at the St George’s Club of New York on 24 and 26 September
We live tweeted it too!! Enjoy herehttps://t.co/dpkoUXNEMj pic.twitter.com/hZYg03Xhix
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) November 9, 2017
The match was held at the St. George’s Cricket Club ground in New York City, at what is now 30th Street and Broadway (then Bloomingdales) in Manhattan.
There was a huge crowd in attendance with estimates of over 20,000 people having attended between the 24th and 26th of September.
The game was scheduled for two days but ended up running to three because of bad weather on the second day, and it was in keeping with matches of the time quite low scoring.
At the end of the the first day saw Canada post 82, with the USA being 61 for 9 in reply. Bad weather prevented any play at all on the second day, so the game was extended to a third day when the USA added just three runs to their overnight total and were all out for 64.
Canada then scored 63 in their second innings, setting the USA 82 runs to win the historic tie. There was more than just pride at stake with the first international match as well with the gathered crowd betting huge stakes on the outcome of the match.
In the end Canada bowled the USA all out for 58 in the second innings, and ended up winning by 23 runs.
Even more importantly, it helped spark a rivalry between the two countries that continues to this very day. The Auty Cup is still played every year between USA and our nearest neighbours, Canada. There are generations of sportsmen who owe a small debt of gratitude to those cricketing pioneers who made history 173 years ago in 1844.
