ACF Applauds Philadelphia Int’l Cricket Festival
“The British are coming! The British are coming!” Contrary to popular opinion, those were not the actual words uttered by Paul Revere in his 1775 midnight ride through Boston. However, the British did come, bringing with them the game of cricket.
C. C. Christie Morris
About 300 miles south of Boston and 100 years later, the game of the British arrived in the City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia. The first American Cricket Club was founded at Haverford College in Pennsylvania in 1834. Fast forward to the 20th century and what does Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Richard Hadlee, Mark Nicholas, Gary Kirsten, Mark Boucher, Fred Truman, Eric Simons, Richie Richardson, Deryck Murray, Jonty Rhodes, Derek Underwood, Michael Kasprowicz and Sunil Joshi, all have in common? By now you have surely guessed cricket, and you would be right. All of those gentlemen have made an appearance in the City of Brotherly Love, since 1993. Last May it was South African Test cricketer Paul Lee Harris’ turn to make a similar trek and be part of the Philadelphia International Cricket Festival. This year the festival will be held from May 2-5, however, this year’s celebrity cricketer has not been announced. The finals of this year’s festival will be held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club Ground at 415 W. Willow Grove Avenue, Philadelphia, PA on May 5th.
The annual Philadelphia International Cricket Festival is an independent sporting charity event conducted under the auspices of the tax-exempt C.C. Morris Cricket Library & Museum. The event welcomes clubs from throughout the US and the world at-large. This year, two teams from Australia will form part of the overseas contingent. We salute this encouragement of national and international sporting ties, and support for youth development through the effort and generosity of charitable contributions.
The American Cricket Federation (ACF) applauds this premier East Coast cricket event, not only for its ability to regularly attract some of the most talented celebrity cricketers through the years, indeed some of the best to have ever played the sport, but also for its selfless dedication to youth cricket as its charitable beneficiary. The ACF identifies closely with these principles of excellence and service on behalf of US cricket’s future.
ACF has been invited to be this year’s Presenter at the Annual General Meeting of the C.C. Morris Cricket Library & Museum on Sunday, March 10. ACF’s Advisory Committee member John Aaron stated “We are very pleased to be invited by one of the USA’s most respected cricketing institutions in the USA, and to be this year’s Presenter. We compliment CCM not only for showcasing current events in US cricket, but also embracing the local cricket communities by invitation, be they a league, a club, an individual player, or supporter. All these stakeholders are to be enfranchised within the ACF.”
The ACF recognizes the service and independence of the C.C. Morris Cricket Library & Museum in both preserving the heritage of US cricket, while proactively supporting its development.