Cricket has long been a peculiar, quiet whisper in the background of American sports, known to immigrant communities, foreign to most Americans, and unsurprisingly, completely invisible on ESPN. But maybe that’s about to change. From weekend leagues sprouting up in Texas to youth cricket programs flourishing in California, cricket is beginning to look less like a curiosity and at least somewhat like the next wave of American youth sports.

For decades now, kids in this country have been funneled into familiar sports: baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. Uncountable slots filled by coaches, parents filled SUVs, and schedules of Saturday mornings became predictable. Then suddenly out of the blue comes a sport that doesn’t pay attention to the predictable; no helmets, no hoops, no end zones, just a bat, ball, and strategy stretched and undoubtedly take hours. To outsiders, cricket looks complicated. But for a club or a youth program, if you actually engage in the activity of cricket, it somehow feels uncomplicated and pure.  For youth sports clubs, it presents a unique opportunity; if you and only you think about the scheduling challenges that are just starting to creep into the scene.

The Unexpected Rise of Cricket in America:-

What was once considered a cultural import is turning into a fan-based, grassroots movement. By the middle of 2025, there are about 131 cricket clubs in the United States….out of over 216 active clubs in North America. Once confined to expatriate communities, cricket is now known by others. In California, youth participation had a 100 percent increase between 2018 and 2024. In Maryland, before the pandemic, there were nearly 650 kids across 45 youth teams participating in tournaments in the spring. In Seattle, over a ten-year period, T20 leagues increased from roughly two dozen teams in 2013….many of these were expats and first-generation players. Park after park, from New Jersey to Arizona, are beginning to be defined by impromptu cricket nets and communities pushed aside by baseball. 

This is not just for the nostalgic expat from South Asia or the region surrounding the Caribbean. What we are observing is the convergence of two forces: America’s everlasting quest for new, exciting, sporting experiences that are inclusive of all social strata, and the redesigning or reengineering of cricket processes that move with faster pace, are more lean and are now officially ready for television viewing and streaming. The events held under Major League Cricket (MLC) only increased expectations, introducing high global stars, large budget production value and hometown pride. If every sport in America were dictated by its youth potential in rendering a sustainable sport, cricket is building its next generation of cricket players and cricket fans one YouTube short, one weekend camp, at a time. 

However, despite every highlight reel and uplifting club photo, there is an unseen element of chaos distancing the sport from practice: scheduling.

Why Scheduling Might Decide Cricket’s Fate:

Growth does not always equal readiness. The volume of clubs, leagues, and local programs is outpacing the infrastructure to support them. A single county in Texas could see four new academies in a year. All are eager, all are short of capacity, and all run into the same invisible beast: time.

Cricket needs coordination. Grounds need preparation, permits need approval, and matches take hours to complete. Most clubs are still trying to schedule on an excel spreadsheet, in WhatsApp groups, or in group chats that fade out halfway through the season. The outcome? Overlapping fixtures, last minute dropped fixtures, game days where no one is available to play, our fields sit empty, and agitated parents who begin thinking soccer might have been an easier choice.

The irony is cruel. Cricket has been marketed as a game of patience and foresight, but in the U.S., it is quickly turning into one of the most disorganized youth sports movements in the country. Even worse, the disorganization is not only logistical. When kids show up to cancelled practice or games that are typically late starting, it undermines something much larger: belief. Parents start thinking cricket is unreliable. Sponsors do not want to sponsor. Coaches see burnout.

Growth of the game is real, and the frailty of the game is also real.

The Statistics That Indicate Both Opportunity and Emergency:

There are two narratives in the data: one of opportunity and one of emergency. Youth cricket in the U.S. has expanded exponentially: 18 youth teams in 2014, moved to 65 in national leagues by 2019. Equipment sales are parallel: the American cricket consumer market surpassed 700 million dollars by 2024, increasing nearly 7% each year. This is not a hobby market, but rather a sport that is about to have a moment in the mainstream.

Thus, most clubs, still relatively new, are small. In fact, the average U.S. cricket club is less than five years old, and is often run on the backs of 2-5 volunteers who live and breathe this game. Facilities for games and practice are scarce, with clubs sharing the park space with either baseball or community events, changing weekly plans. When each match, practice, and tournament is dependent on public park space, the margin for errors is even less forgiving.

The space is tiny, and each rainout pushes three matches to next week, which prevents the immediate week from being busy. Then when it overlaps with another local league tournament, it creates a sequence of cancellations and grumpy text threads. Multiply that by dozens of clubs in, say, three states, and you have a system that feels unstable, not because of a lack of talent, but rather poor scheduling capacity.

This conversation needs to change, from “how do we grow cricket?” to “how do we manage what is already growing much quicker than expected?”

What Clubs Should Understand (If They Want to Survive):

What must happen for cricket to really take root in the US? Clubs need to act and think less like passion projects and more like organized ecosystems. The difference between the club that survives and the club that folds is not necessarily funding or ability; it is usually commitment to a scheduling discipline.

Reliability in scheduling is more than a nice-to-have; it is about reputation. A well organized and scheduled club builds trust with parents and loyalty with players that might not otherwise happen. Kids want to come to the club, and, as we all know, to create a real culture, you need more kids. Kids come with their parents, and there is nothing that attracts sponsorship or spectator engagement more than predictable, regular games. But, before that, a scheduling discipline has to be established, and has to be consistent. That is a challenge, particularly if you are doing everything manually.

This is where Waresport fits in. While most clubs still struggle to organize and rely on multiple unconnected systems or tools to organize their activities, Waresport has simplified everything that makes scheduling kind-of bearable. It includes match fixtures schedules, player availability schedules, alerts to deter players when a game is likely to be rained out (and alerts for parents), and best of all, it is a live and real-time center for updates, throughout matches, that can be seen by everyone – players, parents, referees. In a sport, where an uncommunicated change can derail an entire weekend, staying organized and consolidated with one system for all, is not a luxury to have but an essential survival tool!

Visualize a Maryland youth club that no longer scrambles to rebook a field because their system recommends an available field that is nearby, because their system will suggest to them. Or a Texas academy that does not spend hours just confirming attendance because the parents have already updated their child on the app. Waresport does not just save time it rebuilds trust. It tells parents: this club is being run in a professional manner. It tells players: your match matters.

The best part? Once the admin fog lifts, the coaches finally have room to coach again.

The Domino Effect of Improved Scheduling:

Once you schedule matches regularly, everything else falls in line. Regular schedules, means regular developmental and skill acquisition; predictable tournaments lead to better planning, increased retention and travel logistics are easier; and it starts to change the atmosphere — players arrive on time because the system arrives on time.

Cricket is a social sport as well. A well-tuned club builds community — parents hang around, local sponsors stay engaged, and kids create a rhythm that feels like belonging. Without that rhythm, a sport is just disjointed. Disjointed is fun but it is unstable.

In the Pacific Northwest, youth programs that used simple scheduling tools had nearly a 25% increase in attendance in less than a year. Coaches reported less absenteeism and parents were more satisfied — they sound like dull numbers until you realize they really represent real kids who didn’t leave the sport from disorganization. Just multiply that across fifty states and you are not just organizing cricket, you are safeguarding cricket’s future.

The Future of Cricket in America:

The emergence of cricket in America is no longer hypothetical. It is actual, measurable, and right now. Yet every movement has that moment when excitement meets structure. The moment is now, for cricket.

The next few years will tell whether cricket becomes the fifth major youth sport in the United States or another sport with promise that couldn’t get it together. Every club that gets ahead with reliable scheduling, transparent communication, and data management will help shape the future of the sport. Every club that does not will struggle with its own momentum.

Waresport was built specifically for this inflection point…. a tool born from the chaos of building sports communities, intended to bring order to the calendar. The future of cricket will not be decided by who swings the hardest bat or fields the cleanest catch. It will be determined by who shows up for cricket on time, ready to play. Because in the rapidly-growing cricket landscape in America, the smartest clubs won’t just score runs; they will run on time.

Book your demo now!

FAQs