Cricket will be at the Los Angeles Olympics (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP) (Photo by INDRANIL … [+]
After Tom Cruise performed his latest daredevil stunt – again showcasing why the age-defying, indestructible movie star is his profession’s equivalent to LeBron James – the Olympic baton was passed from Paris to Los Angeles.
Olympic fever from an incredible, era-defining Paris Games remains in the air, as attention turns to LA 2028 where cricket will be making its long-awaited return to the world’s biggest sports event.
The British Commonwealth bat and ball game of cricket, deemed by some metrics at the world’s second most popular sport, will return after its sole appearance in 1900 where only Great Britain and host France featured.
There had been a long-winded push from some administrators, with conversations between cricket power brokers and the IOC stretching back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, those involved have told me. Back then the Tokyo Games was seen as a distinct possibility for cricket’s inclusion.
But for some time there was a wall of resistance from its most powerful countries, most importantly all-mighty India who had feared losing its autonomy to the country’s Olympic committee, while also potentially missing out on lucrative bilateral series.
England too had been reticent with the summer Olympics clashing with its home season.
Cricket was part of the preshow prior to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics (Photo by … [+]
But sentiment changed and a targeted push of cricket by the sport’s governing body into the U.S. meant that the LA Games was circled. As I first reported in December 2020, an ICC working group was formed by then acting chair Imran Khwaja and a well-heeled marketing campaign ensued.
Cricket’s immense popularity in South Asia, amounting for a quarter of the world’s population with traditionally lukewarm interest in the Olympics, was particularly alluring for the IOC. India is deemed a frontrunner to host the 2036 Games.
By the time of cricket’s official inclusion into the LA Olympics last September, it was already a foregone conclusion. It is four years away, but cricket is on the clock. There remains several unknowns.
It does appear that cricket – played in the three-hour T20 format – will only feature six teams per gender in the Olympics, due to a strict quota of athletes, a low number of teams that has privately irked many smaller cricket nations who would not be able to qualify.
A qualification format has yet to be revealed. England would play as Great Britain, in line with the rest of the Olympics, with Scottish and English players to join forces. Caribbean nations compete in cricket under the banner of the West Indies, but take part as individual islands in the Olympics.
Cricketer Paul Collingwood carries the Olympic Flame before the London Games (Photo by LOCOG via … [+]
Finally part of the Olympic sheen, cricket will enjoy wider benefits, especially in the U.S. where it is strategically trying to make inroads having hosted the T20 World Cup and established a pro T20 league.
“The Olympics will be another great opportunity to showcase the sport in this country,” Seattle Orcas co-owner Soma Somasegar told me. “People from all over the world with be watching and it will expose the sport to a broad set of people in a high calibre fashion.”
A home ground for the Orcas has been planned at King County’s Marymoor Park, around 15 miles from Seattle, and likely to hold about 6000-8000 fans. It is hoped to be ready by the 2026 season and possibly become a venue for LA 2028.
“My hope is Seattle has a stadium up and running by then because we have as much potential to host Olympic (cricket) games as anyone else,” Somasegar said.
Other venues could include Great Park in Irvine, the Oakland Coliseum and a proposed site in San Jose.
Perhaps most importantly, the ripple effect could be felt in far-flung places where cricket has struggled to develop.
“You’re not taken seriously in Japan unless you’re an Olympic sport. For non-playing countries, cricket is seen as a minor sport,” Japan Cricket Association head of operations Alan Curr told me last year.
Olympic inclusion will potentially unlock government funding for the sport in non-traditional cricket countries, where this often baffling game has been treated as something of a punchline.
Amid the backdrop of Hollywood, cricket’s Olympic dreams are about to come true.
