Home / Sunday-mid-day / / Article /
Why the return of cricket to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics can be good for the sport
Updated On: 22 October, 2023 07:02 AM IST | Mumbai | Jane Borges
With cricket set to make a return to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics 128 years after its insipid debut, experts tell us why it’s good for the sport, and even brainstorm a Team India dream line-up for Sunday mid-day
Listen to this article :
Illustration/Uday Mohite
The first and the last time cricket was played at the Olympics was 123 years ago. This was the 1900 Paris Summer Olympics, cricket historian Gulu Ezekiel tells us over a phone call. Apart for Great Britain and France, Belgium and Holland (now Netherlands) were also due to participate, but withdrew later.
“In the end, there were only two teams, Great Britain and France,” he says. While the British side was a touring club, the Devon and Somerset Wanderers, the French team, comprising members of the French Athletic Club Union, was made up of only English expatriates who were either travelling or living in Paris. “Basically, there were no French players in the French team,” says Ezekiel. Each team had 12 players, instead of the standard 11-a-side contest. And the match which was played at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, otherwise a cycling venue, on August 19, lasted only two days. “It wasn’t even a Test match, because for Test cricket, you need 11 players in each team, and the game has to be played for a minimum of three days,” Ezekiel points out. Great Britain with a slim score of 117 had been declared winner, after bowling out their French opponents for 78. But such was the apathy towards the match, it didn’t get covered in any national newspaper, according to reports. “The results were not included as part of the official records of the players.”
Trending Stories
Latest Photos
Latest Videos
Latest Web Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
Mid-Day Fast
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT