Pro Cricket

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Pro Cricket was a professional cricket league in the United States. It was operated by American Pro Cricket LLC (APC), a private company independent of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA). Kal Patel was Pro Cricket's Chairman and Commissioner.

The league was formed in 2004 as one of several independent efforts by different organisations to develop and promote cricket in the U.S. APC originally announced that it was fully funded for at least three years of competition, but the league struggled through in its initial season due to poor attendance, and a deal to televise games on Dish Network apparently fell through. The league quietly expired after the 2004 season.

Contents

1 Format
2 2004 Season
3 Champions
4 External link

Format

The format of the games were 20 overs a side, similar to Twenty20 cricket. However, there were two major changes from the rules of cricket used elsewhere:

Overs consist of five balls instead of six.
Bowlers could bowl up to five overs each (25% of the total), meaning only four bowlers will be needed rather than five.

Additionally, the league used a "designated hitter" rule, in which teams consist of 12 players, 11 of whom field and 11 of whom bat. This was similar to such rules existing in some domestic List A cricket competitions. All of these changes were designed to shorten the game and produce more aggressive batting, which the league administrators believed would help make the sport more appealing to the U.S. public.

Each team was allowed a limited roster of global players from professional cricket teams outside the U.S. The ICC however ruled that because Pro Cricket was not organised by the USACA, contracted players from ICC Test nations could not be released from their contracts to play in Pro Cricket matches. However, several notable players without contracts, such as Ajay Jadeja, Daren Ganga, Mervyn Dillon, and Rahul Sanghvi took part in the competition.

Pro Cricket was notable as being the first concerted attempt to begin a professional cricket competition within the U.S. Although cricket had a strong following in the U.S. up to the mid-19th century, its popularity dwindled with the rise of baseball, and it remained an almost unknown sport throughout the 20th century. The U.S. was one of the first nations to become an Associate Member of the ICC, in 1965, but growth of the game there languished until the late 1990s, when the ICC focused development efforts on the country. Progress since has been slow but steady, and many hoped that Pro Cricket would prove to be a turning point in the popularity of the sport in the U.S. As events unfolded, it became clear that this was not to be.

2004 Season

The league consisted of eight teams in two divisions, listed with home grounds:

East:

New York Storm - Richmond County Bank Ballpark.
New Jersey Fire - Commerce Bank Park.
D.C. Forward - Prince George's Stadium.
Florida Thunder - Homestead, Florida.

West:

Chicago Tornadoes - Alexian Field.
San Francisco Freedom - Kezar Stadium.
Los Angeles Unity - Arrowhead Credit Union Park.
Texas Arrow Heads - Cougar Field at the University of Houston.

The competition involved round-robin home and away games between all pairings within a division, followed by interdivisional semi-finals and a final. The schedule ran from the opening game on 19 June, 2004, to the final on 4 September, 2004. In addition, Pro Cricket had a policy of not playing the games that have no importance to them on the points table. The game scheduled for 21 August, 2004, between Chicago and Los Angeles was cancelled due to the lack of importance of the game. Neither team could have made the playoffs even if they won the game therefore Pro Cricket chose to not play the game.

Champions

2004 - San Francisco Freedom defeated New Jersey Fire.

External link

[Pro Cricket official web site]

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