Countries you wish were really good at/really cared about cricket

[G.I.Joe]

Feels odd to watch Don Draper without a cigarette on him.

 

[Bolo]

As someone who supports both nations, I find this incredibly ignorant.

UAE's entire population is expats. There are barely any locals to begin with. And despite that they have a few Emiratis in their squad.

Hong Kong's women team has a solid Chinese presence. They have Chinese-only cricket clubs. And they have picked a couple of Chinese players in the past. It's not easy to get the locals involved in cricket when the British treated it as a whites-only sport during their time here. It's not that that they don't know cricket, they actively dislike it. Give it a couple of generations for perceptions the change. The people involved with HK Cricket are trying very hard to get the locals involved. They coach it in local schools in Cantonese to young kids, they bring in locals who have lived overseas in places like England and NZ to come in and get involved, and they're constantly trying to gain attention and support from the government.

I probably shouldn't admit to a perception that caused this rant, but I was maybe 80% in agreement with longranger on this one before your post. I'm sure this misconception is very common, or you wouldn't bring it up.

I've never had any knowledge of Hong Kong cricket, and still somehow managed to form an opinion. I've got a tolerable knowledge of the UAE in general, but somehow managed to ignore most of it when thinking of UAE cricket, and while I've always known they had a number of Emaratis in the team, I've somehow (post 1996) managed to think of them as an expat team.

Peceptions really can be stupid (apologies longranger. I don't mean to insult you. You may have legitimate reasons for your beliefs that I'm unaware of. I did not though, and this is directed at myself)

Thanks for this post.

 

[Johnners]

Spain, because I have a random affinity for all things Spanish.

 

[Stapel]

USA because they have the most influence over the rest of the world when it comes to popularising things.

Didn't work for American Football, Baseball, or Basketball. None of these sports are anything reasonably popular in large parts of the world.

Oh and to add to what ***** said, **** all the expat hating idiots.

Expats grow the game in the country. Anyone who plays at any level in the expat heavy countries will know that in most of them, the number of youths that are progressing to the national teams as a product of the local system are steadily increasing in numbers. This **** takes time. A nation isn't randomly going to adopt a certain game for no reason at all. Even the country that invented the ****ing game has had a ****ton of expats turn out for them.

You're spot on there!

 

[Howe_zat]

Didn't work for American Football, Baseball, or Basketball. None of these sports are anything reasonably popular in large parts of the world.

Don't think this is really true at all. People watch NBA all over the world for much the same reasons people watch the EPL all over the world. The US is the planet's cultural exporter - just because there's not much interest in local leagues doesn't mean there's not much interest in the sport.

I mean, there's a pretty well populated NBA thread on this forum. Chances of a regular cricket thread on a basketball forum? Slim.

 

[burr]

West Indies.

 

[Geoffboycott]

Usa because I love the place and fingers crossed will be moving there one day.

 

[Geoffboycott]

Who do cricket fans in the US support at the moment tho? West Indies? As It's next door. Maybe england because of the history.

 

[BeeGee]

Who do cricket fans in the US support at the moment tho? West Indies? As It's next door. Maybe england because of the history.

India.

One of them supports NZ.

The USA is the last country I would want to take up cricket. Test cricket would be DOA.

 

[Chrish]

China. India - China sport rivalry would be sweet. And we have seen what they can achieve from Olympics if they set their mind to it.

Also, Brazil. Multi-ethic culture that is very very passionate about sports.

 

[Jumno]

USA
Germany
Italy
Argentina
France

 

[reyrey]

Didn't work for American Football, Baseball, or Basketball. None of these sports are anything reasonably popular in large parts of the world.

Baseball is the top sport in Japan, SKorea and Spanish speaking Caribbean.

Basketball is up there in a Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia region and surprisingly in a manlet country like Philippines.

I used to watch a fair amount of this stuff when the only sports I could really access were on betting sites.

 

[Coronis]

Baseball is the top sport in Japan and SKorea.

Basketball is up there in a Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia region and surprisingly in a manlet country like Philippines.

I used to watch a fair amount of this stuff when the only sports I could really access were on betting sites.

That post is 9 years old and the user isn’t active atm but ok.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

USA
Germany
Italy
Argentina
France

Were Argentina ever close to getting Test status back in the day, or am I making that up? I don’t believe Italy have any real cricketing history to speak of, but they’ve been recruiting a few heritage players from South Africa and Australia, it’s not inconceivable that they’ll be at the next T20 World Cup (though they’d have to do something spectacular like what the USA did for cricket to move the needle over there I’d imagine!)

 

[Jumno]

Were Argentina ever close to getting Test status back in the day, or am I making that up? I don’t believe Italy have any real cricketing history to speak of, but they’ve been recruiting a few heritage players from South Africa and Australia, it’s not inconceivable that they’ll be at the next T20 World Cup (though they’d have to do something spectacular like what the USA did for cricket to move the needle over there I’d imagine!)

The list I complied is more or less a wish. However USA and Germany are the top two.

 

[fredfertang]

Were Argentina ever close to getting Test status back in the day, or am I making that up? I don’t believe Italy have any real cricketing history to speak of, but they’ve been recruiting a few heritage players from South Africa and Australia, it’s not inconceivable that they’ll be at the next T20 World Cup (though they’d have to do something spectacular like what the USA did for cricket to move the needle over there I’d imagine!)

Argentina had a decent team after the Great War for a few seasons, mainly thanks to Clem Gibson and various members of the Ayling family, but they were some distance from Test status

 

[Silver Silva]

Saudi Arabia ..

All boards would get that A-rab money and Test cricket would be in great health

 

[reyrey]

That post is 9 years old and the user isn’t active atm but ok.

He's in for a treat then when he next logs in a 6 months time.

 

[SteveNZ]

I wish the ICC cared about cricket, I might have already said that in this thread. Unsure

 

[GotSpin]

Were Argentina ever close to getting Test status back in the day, or am I making that up? I don’t believe Italy have any real cricketing history to speak of, but they’ve been recruiting a few heritage players from South Africa and Australia, it’s not inconceivable that they’ll be at the next T20 World Cup (though they’d have to do something spectacular like what the USA did for cricket to move the needle over there I’d imagine!)

Argentina still have several clubs in BA that play cricket. Number of nice turf grounds too