In the 19th century, it was one of the most popular sports in the USA, but the wish for a truly American sport and the Civil War led to its fall from popularity. Could it be baseball? No, it is cricket, a sport that is quickly making a comeback after a century in the shadows.

In the aftermath of Ireland’s and Afghanistan’s success in making cricket a major sport, cricket seeks to follow in Soccer's footsteps and thrive in the US once more. Despite huge growth, however, many roadblocks still lie in the way of success.

Over the last few years, cricket has seen a resurgence in the USA. Central Broward Stadium (until recently the only major cricket stadium in the USA) hosted 2 matches of India's tours of the Caribbean in 2016, 2019 and 2023. USA’s own national cricket team has seen a huge rise of skill and achievement in joining the world cup qualifiers and even beating a full member team (Ireland). Most importantly, however, was the USA’s biggest attempt to join the fast growing leagues that are replacing traditional international matches, the Major League Cricket - a full fledged league with both homegrown and international cricket talent participating. Plans for further cricket expansion are also in place for 2024, with the ICC (international cricket council) hosting the 2024 T20i world cup in the Caribbean and the USA.

The most fundamental definition for being a major cricket country is being classified as a “full member”. Today, there are 12 full member teams. Becoming a full member is not unheard of; both Ireland and Afghanistan became full member teams in 2017 after fast rises, world cup qualifications and pulling off upsets against strong teams.The Netherlands has also seen a remarkable rise in cricket over the last year, participating in the qualifiers and knocking out full members the West Indies (historically a cricket superpower and 2 time world cup champion) and Zimbabwe to qualify for the world cup in July 2023.

While it might seem that the USA could become a full member like Ireland and Afghanistan, the reality is a bit more complex.

In cricket, to become a full member, a country has to prove a few things:

• Long-Format Readiness: Full members play five-day Test matches, which the USA isn't quite ready for. However, they could work on this after doing well in shorter formats, like the World Cup.

• Strong Domestic Structure: The USA has already established a Major League and Minor League for cricket, which is a good start.

• Robust Cricket Board: The organization overseeing cricket in the USA is in good shape, meeting the necessary criteria.

• Formal Application and Assessment: The USA will need to go through a rigorous evaluation, which they're likely to pass once they meet the above requirements.

• Final Approval: To become a full member, the USA needs unanimous approval from the current full members, similar to what Ireland and Afghanistan received in 2017.

There is no doubt that this is possible. The US is working (and making headway) on completing these goals, though it is not an easy process. The US’s own ambitious roadmap had 4 basic components in 2019, 4 components that they failed to meet.

This path is not necessarily the way though. Over the last decade, the cricket world has seen a meteoric rise of Leagues, and many experts (including the committee of writers of the rules of cricket) have suggested fewer international matches. This means that the conventional path that Afghanistan and Ireland tried may become an outdated path from a previous world of cricket. Leagues, especially the Major League Cricket that the USA hosts provides its small contingent of homegrown talent a chance to take on the best of the world, while simultaneously increasing the popularity of the sport in the USA and leaning into the new world of league cricket.

Despite these efforts, though, breaking into the USA has to deal with the Major American sports: Basketball, Baseball, and (American) Football. Even Soccer (Football), despite becoming a major sport in the USA, could not break their popularity, though cricket can very well follow soccer's lead and try.