The birth of Test cricket, on March 15, 1877, is extensively chronicled. Australia faced, and trumped England at the picturesque Melbourne Cricket Ground. The lead-up is fascinating, for a decade before the fixture the Australians were considered to be a weak side and were allowed to field 22 players against England’s eleven. As I write this, Australia have bagged their fifth World Cup title and are ranked just behind South Africa in the Test arena.
Almost 150 years ago, the United States of America (USA) and Canada boasted of a higher quality of cricket than was prevalent in Australia; albeit they too, like Australia, fielded 22 men against England’s eleven. Eleven of England versus Twenty-two of Lower Canada, or, Eleven of England versus Twenty-two of the United States, were how the games were referred to. The touring English cricketers found the matches against Canada and USA of more significance.
England’s twelve cricketers created history when they embarked on their fist overseas tour on September 7, 1859 — eighteen years before the first official Test — to Canada and the United States. It was an event enthusiastically greeted by people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. A throng cheered the cricketers who started from the docks off Liverpool to be welcomed by a similar horde at the conclusion of a journey that lasted almost two weeks.
The voyage was far from pleasant, although there are recorded events of sporadic activities invented for amusement by travellers aboard the Nova Scotian. Nonetheless, the expedition was dominated by seasickness owing to inclement weather resulting in rough waters. When the players finally arrived in Quebec, on September 22, 1859, they were relieved, before being informed they were due to play against the Twenty-two of Lower Canada the next day. Thankfully, wet weather caused it to be postponed by a day more.
It is said that the excitement in Montreal, the venue of the first match, was palpable. Apparently, close to 3000 spectators turned up to witness the best of England take on their home team. The outcome hardly seemed to matter, for it was the prowess of England’s finest that attracted audience. John Jackson, Willian Caflyn and George Parr were renowned (whereas Julius Cesar drew attention for his comments post the tour on USA’s lack of hospitality).
Hoboken, a city in New Jersey, attracted a crowd of 25000. Again, it was the aura around England’s first travelers pertaining to the sport that resulted in this kind of a turnout. According to Fred Lillywhite, organizer of this first overseas cricket tour and author of the book The English Cricketers’ Trip to Canada and the United States, the gathering “was not caused by any public desire for triumph on either side, but that those who attended each day seemed to be simply actuated by curiosity as to the manner of playing the game of cricket, with a natural desire to see the men who had accomplished so long a journey, and become so famous as players in England.”
The attention the English cricketers received — from staying in the finest hotels, being treated to the finest cuisines and being serviced in general — was on par with what is usually meted out to a Governor General. Cricket generated tremendous excitement. Philadelphia appeared to be the sport’s hotbed, so much so that it was reckoned to soon be a national sport.
“The interest manifested for the progress of the game, during the entertainment [hosted as part of a dinner programme by the authorities in the region], as evinced by the very excellent and genuine speeches delivered, is sufficient proof that “Cricket in Philadelphia” has every prospect of becoming a national game,” writes Lillywhite in his book.
Sadly, in a decade’s time, baseball surged ahead, perhaps because America preferred to play its own sport — there was already a raging belief at the time that their english was superior to that of England’s, and the former took every opportunity to go one up over the latter.
Meanwhile, cricket gained traction in Australia. By mid-1870s, quality of cricket Down Under went past that of Canada and USA’s, and England began arranging tours to there more frequently. Cricket’s evangelists expected to take over a major chunk of North America, but engulfed the continent of Australia instead. There is no doubt they would have preferred both. Alas, it wasn’t to be, and a century-and-a-half later, it still appears to be out of reach.
