USA v Canada and cricket's brush with the American dream

In the USA the St George's Club of Manhattan was established in 1838. As the name suggests it was an English club. The majority of its players were British born and Americans were not allowed to play. This exclusive approach was resented by Americans who had been playing the game for over a century. It gave the impression it was an English game, with no one else welcome. Despite these constraints to its influence the St George's Club was a strong centre of the game in the Americas.

The interest north and south of the Hudson was sufficient for regular games between St George's and the Toronto Club to be staged by 1840 and this led to what would prove to be a historic fixture at the St George's Club, Manhattan, in late September 1844. It pitted Canada against the United States and was the first ever international, not only in cricket but in any modern sport. A reported 20,000 watched Canada emerge victorious in a low-scoring, two innings match played over two days.

The match started a long-running rivalry for the Auty cup, named after Chicago resident Karl Andre Auty, which was contested every year since until 2017. With clubs growing, interest building and annual internationals giving a patriotic hook to drive further development, cricket was gaining a foothold in the region. In Canada not only was the game consolidating in the Toronto area but was spreading to the west with the nucleus of what would become clubs forming in Victoria and Winnipeg.

The level of ambition and confidence of this cricketing outpost is shown by the invite to an All-England XI to tour, originally planned in 1856 but finally achieved in 1859. This was the first international tour by a representative English team. It was masterminded by William Pickering, a cricketer freshly emigrated from England and captain of the Canadian team. Games were played in Quebec, Ontario, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York. Media and public interest were considerable and it was undoubtedly something of a coup. It was also a financial gamble that paid off handsomely.

It was a pivotal moment in the global game. International cricket was established and Canada and the USA were fast-growing regions of the sport beyond England, with the latter not even in the empire. The eagerness to arrange the 1859 tour despite a huge commercial risk on securing the services of the All Star XI demonstrates that they looked to England for influence and heroes.

Nevertheless, partly as a result of the tour cricket could be said to be the most popular and established sport in both countries. There were grand plans for further international tours. In Canada the first prime minister, Sir John MacDonald, declared cricket the national sport.

Just as cricket was on the brink of taking root in the region civil war broke out. It was to be baseball, a young American sport adapted from the traditional English rounders-like game bass-ball, rather than cricket that the troops played during the war helping to establish it as the all-American game. Baseball is thought to have come over with British settlers in Canada in the middle of the 18th century and moved south of the border from there In the 1850s. Its popularity in New York increased significantly, becoming something of a craze.

Though less established than cricket at this point it had a home-grown appeal over the stuffy English image the St George's Club had helped lumber cricket with. It was easier to organise and play than cricket too, not requiring a prepared pitch or as much specialist equipment. This helped it become the game of choice for relaxation amid the Civil War. Cricket had lost its moment as a national sport.

A Corner of Every Foreign Field is published by Pitch Publishing on July 20. Tim can be found on Twitter @CricketAtlas