THE C.C. MORRIS LIBRARY and MUSEUM JUNIOR CRICKET
ASSOCIATION
An initiative organized under the auspices of the not-for-profit C.C. Morris Cricket Library &
Museum, dedicated to the development of youth cricket in Philadelphia and surrounding regions.
GOALS
The Goals of The C.C. Morris Library and Museum Junior Cricket Association (CCMJCA) are
to foster awareness of cricket and the playing of cricket among school students by:
1.
Inauguration of The Philadelphia Youth Cricket Academy (PYCA), offering free
intensive weekly cricket coaching to any High School student who wishes to develop
cricketing skills and participate in competitive youth and entry-level club fixtures.
2.
Introduction of a Schools Initiative Program to introduce cricket to middle school and
upper school aged children through “in-school” coaching programs and to sponsor
their cricket events, while providing opportunities to further develop the cricket skills
of those interested by entry into the PYCA.
ACTIVE SPONSORS (to date)
The Atlantic Cricket League
The British Officers Cricket Club of Philadelphia
The C.C. Morris Cricket Library & Museum
The Germantown Cricket Club
The Merion Cricket Club
The Philadelphia Cricket Club
The Philadelphia International Cricket Festival
2009 PROGRAMS
Please see separate flyers that describe in more detail the specific programs associated
respectively with the Schools Initiative Program and the PYCA. Dates for everyone’s interest
include:
April 18 Introductory meeting and PYCA sign up for all interested parties – venue to be
announced shortly.
April 30 – May 3 17th. Annual Philadelphia Cricket Festival. Experience the game at first
hand!
MANAGEMENT CONTACTS (See Website - Philadelphia Youth Cricket Academy
www.xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.com - under construction)
CCMJCA Board: President/Administration
Treasurer
Liaison
S.I. Program Operations
PYC Academy Operations
SIP Committee:
-
PYC Committee: -
Craig Joss (MCC)
Tom Culp (PCC)
Bruce Gottschalk (GCC)
Alfred Reeves (BOCC)
Fred Levins (PCC)
Mike Thomas (BOCC)
(610) 636 4230
tba
tba
(610) 525 4280
(215) 840 2870
(301) 490-8940
Bruce Gottschalk (GCC)
Nadim Ahmed (BOCC)
tba
(610) 716 4687
Fred Levins
Mike Thomas
ABOUT CRICKET
HISTORY
Dating back to England in 1597, cricket is the second most played game in the world after soccer
and now played in more than 100 countries worldwide. During the 17th.century, numerous
references record its growth and it is believed the first professionals appeared in the years
following the Restoration in 1606. By the end of the century it had become well-organized and
major developments in the 18th century saw it become the national sport of England.
Bowling evolved around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or
skimming it towards the batsmen. The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760’s and for the
next 20 years until the formation of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of the
Lord’s Old Ground in 1787, Hambleden was both the game’s greatest club and its focal point.
The MCC quickly became the sport’s premier club and the custodian of The Laws of Cricket, a
role it keeps today. New laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th. century included the three
stump wicket and the leg-before-wicket (lbw)
dismissal for batsmen.
The 19th century saw underarm bowling replaced by first roundarm and then overarm bowling.
Both developments were controversial, particularly amongst the new English county clubs
forming of which Sussex was the first in 1839. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been
instrumental in spreading the game overseas and by the middle of the 19th. century it had become
well established in India, North America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New
Zealand. In 1844, the first-ever international cricket match took place between the United States
and Canada. In the United States, Philadelphia became the epicenter of the game and the
Gentlemen of Philadelphia went on to both host and tour England with very favorable results. In
1859 the first ever overseas tour by an England side took place to the USA and Canada and the
beginnings were born of the International rivalries that were to shape the modern game.
A GENTLEMAN’S GAME
While the modern, professional game may now occasionally challenge the historic mores of
cricket, its traditional roots are still steeped in the notions of fair play and gentlemanly conduct.
Cricket has no rules – it is the only sport bound by Laws, enshrined at the MCC at Lord’s in
London. There are some unwritten laws too, widely practiced, where a fielding captain in certain
circumstances may override an umpire’s technically correct “out” decision on an opposition
batsman. Elements of cricket’s lingua franca have passed into everyday use in the English
language, where “that’s not cricket” means unfair, “hit for six” means rendered totally useless
and “a sticky wicket” means a very difficult situation. As the old saw goes: “What do you mean,
it’s life and death…it’s not as if it were Cricket”.
Mike Thomas – January, 2009
BASICS OF THE GAME
[Hint: See www.wikipedia.com - cricket, for an excellent overview]
Of several game versions, this summarizes the common U.S.A. club version of one innings per
team, played in an afternoon and limited by the number of overs each team can bowl.
Cricket is played between two teams of 11 players in a field of variable size and shape, normally
around 140-160 yards diameter and on a pitch in the middle, 22 yards long with a three-stump
wicket at either end. The perimeter of the field is called the boundary. In the limited over version
the objective of each team is to score more runs than the other. By coin toss, the winner elects to
bat or bowl/field. There are 15 people on the field during play: two batsmen from the batting
side, a bowler, wicketkeeper (“catcher”) and 9 fielders (making up all 11 of the bowling/fielding
side) and two umpires.
A bowler bowls a collection of six balls (an over) from one end of the pitch to the batsman
defending the wicket at the other end (the striker). The other batsman at the bowlers end is called
the non-striker. At the end of the over, another bowler bowls from the opposite end, at whichever
batsman is at the new striker’s end. A run is scored when both batsmen safely run the length of
the pitch, exchanging ends without the fielded ball breaking either wicket before the batsman
safely arrives. This run exchange can happen multiple times if the ball is hit far. Four runs are
scored if the ball goes over the boundary, or six if it clears the boundary on the fly. A striking
batsman must defend his wicket; he is out (bowled) if a ball breaks it. A batsman may choose
whether to try to score a run on any ball, or merely defend his wicket. He bats until he is out –
though as a team game with limited overs, the rate at which he scores is tactically important (as
indeed is the rate at which the fielding side are successful at dismissing batsmen).
There are ten ways a batsman can be out, most commonly bowled, run out (not completing a run
safely), caught out by a fielder on a fly ball, and leg-before-wicket (lbw, an umpire’s judgment
call if the ball hits a batsman’s leg-guard if otherwise the ball would have hit the wicket. Anyone
on the fielding side can bowl, and bowling changes can be made by the fielding captain at any
time at the end of an over. Typically, a team will comprise 4-5 specialist batsmen, 4-5 specialist
bowlers, a specialist wicketkeeper, with the balance made up of all-rounders who have both
batting and bowling skills. To maximize efficiency at the wicket a batting side will generally set
a batting order in descending order of batting competence. Bowling styles are varied, from sheer
pace (International professionals rate up to 100 m.p.h.!), through swing (movement in the air),
and seam (movement off the pitch), to the slow bowling of finger spin (substantial movement off
the pitch) to the difficult leg-spin (potentially enormous movement off the pitch!). Note that
bowlers always try to bounce the ball in front of the batsman, so clean hitting is rendered more
difficult.
When the tenth batsman of the batting side is dismissed, the batting team are all out and the
teams exchange batting/fielding roles – though often a tea is served between the innings! There
are many, many nuances to the game and many tactical judgments are made by the captains
during play, particularly relating to positioning of fielders, making bowling changes and
assessing batsmen’s strengths and weaknesses. Note that even in International Test matches, the
majority of these decisions are made by the captain on the field, not the coaches!
Mike Thomas – January, 2009
PLAY
CRICKET
HOW
By joining (FREE) the Philadelphia Youth Cricket Academy, operated for
High School students in conjunction with local cricketing organizations by
the not-for-profit C.C. Morris Cricket Library & Museum of Haverford
College.
WHEN
An introductory meeting and sign-up for interested parties will be held at
___ p.m. at _______________ on April 18th. 2009. All are welcome !
Venue to be advised.
SEE THE GAME
Come and join us for the thrills and excitement of
the 17th. Annual Philadelphia International Cricket
Festival held during April 30 – May 3rd. Jointly hosted by the Merion Cricket
Club, Germantown Cricket Club, Philadelphia Cricket Club and The British
Officers Cricket Club of Philadelphia, the Festival features two games per
day at 4 local club grounds. More information at: www.cricketfestival.com
MORE ?
Contact The Philadelphia Youth Cricket Academy at our website
www.xxxxxx@xxx.com (currently under construction), or call Mike
Thomas at (301) 490-8940 or email to mikethomas12566@aol.com
CRICKET IN PHILADELPHIA
HISTORY
While there is evidence that some of George Washington’s troops played a game of “wickets” at Valley
Forge in the summer of 1778, Philadelphia’s unique cricketing heritage emerged in the early 19th century.
Philadelphia has been described as the epicenter of the game in the USA in its golden age around 18701912, due to the influx of Lancashire and Yorkshire hosiery and mill-workers in the 1840’s. Nevertheless,
Jones Wister, an American, is credited as being the “father” of Philadelphia cricket, reinforced by the
founding of four major clubs – Germantown CC, formerly the Mannheim CC (1854), Philadelphia CC
(1854), Merion CC (1865) and Belmont CC (1874-1913).
American cricket commanded great stature in this period, having the honor of staging the first
international cricket match ever, when the USA met Canada in 1844. The first ever England team to tour
overseas also visited Philadelphia on it s US/Canada tour. Contemporary history shows one Robert
Newell bowled out the great W.G. Grace first ball and was promptly presented with his bat! Equally
noteworthy is the fact that the USA was believed to be ahead of Australia in first class cricket, a point
proven back in 1878. Australia’s visiting team that included Spofforth et al, had visited Lord’s and beaten
the MCC in a one day game. On arrival in the States however, the visitors could only force a draw. Four
more visits were made to Philadelphia. In 1893 the Australians were easily beaten by Philadelphians in
one of two matches and in 1896, they were beaten in one out of three matches. In 1912, an Australian XI
lost by two runs and in 1913, they lost by two wickets to a Germantown XI. It was not only the
Australians that suffered defeats; in 1897 Philadelphia sent a touring side to England for a series of firstclass matches. Philadelphia beat Sussex (Bart King taking 7-13) and Warwickshire, and drew against
Somerset, Yorkshire, Nottingham and Oxford University. Bart King returned on tour to England in 1908
and headed the English bowling averages – a force indeed! Other visits to Philadelphia in the period
included elevens from Ireland, the West Indies as well as teams led by P.F. Warner, Lord Hawke and
Ranjitsinghji among others.
Only one local cricket institution however, has played without a break from this period to the present day.
An English landscape gardener, William Carvill introduced cricket to Haverford College in 1834 and it is
still a student Varsity sport there to this day. The matches against the U. of Pennsylvania from 1864 are
thought to be the oldest continuous inter-collegiate rivalry on land in the USA – the oldest being the
Harvard/Yale boat race!
The First World War struck a near mortal blow to the game and the 120 or so regional clubs in being at
the time. The 20th.century witnessed a steady decline of cricket and playing standard over 70 years,
exacerbated by the ready living that cricketers enjoyed by populating baseball’s early professional ranks
(it was a cricketer, Henry Chadwick, that wrote the first Rules of Baseball!). Cricket playing at the older
clubs gradually withered in standard and died. Newer local clubs, including the British Officer’s Cricket
Club (1925-1938) and the 1939 clubs at Edgely Field in Fairmount Park of Fairmount CC and General
Electric CC which merged in 1969 to form the Prior Cricket Club, aided the cause: but it was only when
easy travel, the post-WW2 boom and an increasingly global economy sparked a substantial influx of
cricket-lovers from all cricket playing nations, that a barely ticking heartbeat was revived. A renaissance
of sorts started with the technology boom in the 1980’s and clubs old and new were revived or founded.
Merion CC resumed playing cricket in 1978, and the British Officers Cricket Club was re-established in
1986 that with Prior CC and International CC in Fairmount Park became the dominant local players with
the evolution of new regional leagues. The establishment and growth of competitive league cricket both in
the Philadelphia region and across the United States as a whole, brought a renewed national focus to the
game, reinvigorated lapsed playing standards and provided the foundation on which today’s Philadelphia
game is primarily based.
Two innovations in the early 1990’s arose from discussions between Merion CC, the British Officer’s CC
and the ever-present Haverford College. The first was the revival of The Gentlemen of Philadelphia as a
representative touring side. Variously competitive with the best of local players, or quite social, the
Philadelphia name reappeared, performing with distinction from 1992 in the annual Charlotte Festival and
biennial Bermuda Challenge. The GoP have since toured twice each to England and Sarasota. The second
was the founding of the Philadelphia International Cricket Festival in 1993 as a showpiece of the best of
cricket’s traditions. Steadily expanded, the PICF through the efforts of Craig Joss and others has regained
some small measure of international recognition for Philadelphia cricket. It also sparked a return to
cricket by Germantown CC in 1996, followed by Philadelphia CC in 1999.
Mike Thomas – January, 2009, with grateful acknowledgement to original contributions from J. Alfred Reeves and the late Amar Singh.
LOCAL CRICKET TODAY
The 21st century with the continuing impact of IT and outsourcing explosions has brought a new influx of
cricket-loving immigrants. As quoted recently in Sports Illustrated, cricket was named currently as the
fastest growing sport in America. Standards of play have risen, along with the sophistication of league
organizations, the first signs of returning professionalism and a rapid increase in the number of local
clubs. The early league powerhouses of New York and Washington DC have now been joined by a
proliferation of leagues in north and south New Jersey and latterly rivaled by the local establishment of
the Philadelphia Cricket League in 2006 and the Atlantic League in 2009. Accompanying this have been
the rise of intra-league representative matches and the beginnings of a youth cricket movement, aided
spasmodically by efforts at a regional and national level that is struggling with a chequered past to
reignite international recognition of the USA game.
Today’s regional catchment for Philadelphian cricketers embraces around 75 clubs from an estimated
800-1,000 clubs in the USA overall. The two-division Garden State Cricket League to the north, the
three-division Cricket League of New Jersey to the south and the newer Philadelphia Cricket and Atlantic
Cricket Leagues embracing Pennsylvania and Delaware play at an ever-increasingly high standard. In
addition to Prior CC and the British Officer’s CC in Philadelphia, strong regional clubs include
Allentown CC, Collegeville CC, Delaware CC, Lansdale CC and Newcastle CC, to name but a few. By
way of illustrating the health of the modern Philadelphia game, the British Officer’s CC now plays some
80 fixtures a year, runs 3-4 teams per weekend, participates in three competitive leagues, has just built its
third home ground in 2008 and helps keep the touring tradition alive by annual tours to Canada, preseason to Florida and a biennial tour to England.
Elsewhere, the collegiate scene is thriving, with a revitalized intra-collegiate competition which
Haverford College continues to stimulate, recently joined notably by Villanova U. CC amongst others.
Germantown CC, Merion CC and Philadelphia CC have revived their historic intra-country club
competition of the Halifax Cup, memorably concluded in 2008 at Lord’s, England. The 17th annual
Philadelphia International Cricket Festival will take place between April 30 – May 3, 2009. Finally, and
importantly, the role of the C.C. Morris Cricket Library has evolved tremendously in recent years as an
enabling, representative umbrella organization to support and provide an infrastructure to joint initiatives
of common interest to local clubs. Besides its historic library and museum of memorabilia, it has
successively embraced management of the Philadelphia Festival and now the development of Youth
Cricket in the area.
Mike Thomas – January, 2009
PROGRAMS
The Philadelphia Youth Cricket Academy
The Philadelphia Youth Cricket Academy is open to all High School Students interested in
learning or sharpening their skills in the game.
Experienced local cricketers have volunteered to run weekly coaching clinics throughout the
summer at club grounds, covering basic skills and understanding, nets practices and practice
games. The goal is to form a team, or teams, that will participate in a schedule of fixtures during
late summer and early Fall.
In this, its inaugural year, PYCA activities will be further refined to adapt to the needs of the
numbers of students enrolled and the respective skill sets experienced. It should be noted that it
is expected that the PYCA will welcome both beginners in the game and those already with some
experience. We already have one 16-year-old signed up who played for the U.S.A. U-18 squad
last season! It would be nice to think that in the fullness of time, we could provide him with
some company!
There is broadening support for youth cricket generally in the U.S.A. Indeed the governing body
of International cricket, the ICC, have made formal youth cricket development a mandatory
requirement of membership at a national level. The USACA and its regional satellites are
developing youth initiatives. A longer-term goal of the PYCA is to have a team or teams
participating in regional representation.
The Schools Initiative Program
The goal of the School Initiative Program (“SIP”) is to introduce cricket within schools for the
benefit of middle school and upper (high) school students. Through this program we hope to
generate enthusiasm for cricket in local schools and with our assistance, to have local schools
integrate cricket into their sponsored athletic programs.

To introduce cricket to middle school and upper school aged children through "in school"
coaching programs, with the goal of broadening cricket exposure and development for
juniors in the greater Philadelphia region.

To train coaches and teachers to expand the School Initiative Program and the
Philadelphia youth Cricket Academy program.

To sponsor events for middle school and upper school aged groups of junior cricketers

To follow "in school" introduction with out of school coaching and opportunities for
interested high school youth to continue their coaching through the Philadelphia Youth
Cricket Academy.