Cricket was first played in the United States in the "Tidewater" area of Virginia (near Norfolk and Hampton I believe) in the early 1700s by wealthy landowners with nothing better to do with their time. This was primitive "4-a-side cricket", as opposed to the primitive 11-a-side cricket most of us play today. The game actually flourished amongst the wealthy English settlers and soldiers who lived in the East and north east of the country. So much so that from 1795 we have the oldest surviving example of the formation of a cricket club in the United States. This was the "Richmond Cricket Club."

Cricket became more and more popular in the 19^th century and clubs existed in every State, along with numerous cricket publications. From the middle of the 19^th century there are references to cricket clubs existing in Richmond, Roanoke and Norfolk, Virginia. North Carolina must have been a bit of a backwater, the earliest reference to a cricket club in this state was in 1897 in Asheville - possibly had something to do with Biltmore Estate.

However, baseball emerged (from cricket) and was much more appealing to Americans and at the same time Britain excluded non-Commonwealth countries from participating in international cricket. In 99% of the US the game slowly died and was usurped by baseball.

We don’t have any information about cricket in North Carolina or Virginia for the next 70 years - the game was probably not played. From the 1970s and early 1980s we have is oral history from some old-timers who have lived in North Carolina for a long while!

In the 1970s the Charlotte Cricket Club existed for several years, we are not sure who they played against, but the team vanished in the 1980s. There was no cricket in Charlotte until the late 1980’s when some South African’s formed the Charlotte Cricket Club, which continues today with a well known tournament every September/October that attracts teams, players and celebrities from all over the U.S. and from Britain. Also in Charlotte are two enthusiastic teams who are members of the Mid-Atlantic Cricket conference - the Mecklenburg CC formed in 1997 (the 2000 league champions) and the Charlotte Lions, which formed in 1999 although their roots go back to the mid 1990s. Near Charlotte is the Gastonia Cricket club, which plays social cricket on a very nice private field.

At the UNC- Chapel Hill, cricket teams have existed on and off since at least the 1970s. During this time there were also teams in Duke and Winston Salem. The UNC and Duke teams’ fortunes (and existence) varied according to how many cricket-playing students were attending. Currently neither university has a permanent team. There was also a team in Greensboro that considered joining the Richmond league, but they have since disbanded.

The most successful UNC team, was started by Amitabh Singh in the late 1980s. This team eventually left UNC and became the Carolina Cricket Club. In the early 1990’s in the Raleigh Durham area, there were teams at NCSU, Duke University and Nortel (now the Raleigh Cricket Club). There was even a team back then called the "Triangle Cricket Club" but that is not the same TCC that exists now. In fact the TCC that exists now was originally called the NCSU cricket club ... confused? In 1996 Syntel formed a team and late that year the Carolina ANZACs formed (known initially as the "Australian Gentlemen and Friends" but surprisingly we couldn’t find any gentlemen). These teams would travel far to play cricket, including Clemson and Columbia SC and even to Washington DC.

Early in 1997 the Carolina ANZACs, Carolina CC, Triangle CC, Nortel CC, Syntel CC, NCSU and CC Virginia Tech. formed the Mid-Atlantic Cricket Conference. The first President (purely because no one else could be bothered) was Stephen Willott, there were no other officers.

There was no cricket played in southern Virginia until the mid-1980s when NATO forces based in Norfolk played some informal social matches. In 1988 the Hampton cricket club formed out of these informal teams and continues today. In the early 1990s the local Indian community in Richmond formed a social team (India Association Cricket Club), which played against Hampton, and a team from Lynchburg. Eventually a team of West Indians also formed in Richmond.

Two hundred years after the first recorded club formed in Richmond, a formal cricket league resumed in the city. In 1995 a four-team league was formed and consisted of the Jagans CC, India Association CC (now the Greater Richmond CC), Hampton CC and the Barbarians CC. In 1996 the Richmond International CC joined, but soon disappeared. In 1997 the Pakistan CC (Now Pardesei CC) joined. This league was called the Mid-Atlantic Cricket League. For a couple of season the IACC tried their luck in the Washington DC league, but the competition was too strong, and distance too far, so they rejoined the local league.

After months of delicate and complicated negotiations between Stephen Willott of the Carolina ANZACs and Dave Quirk of the Barbarians, the Mid-Atlantic Cricket League and the Mid-Atlantic Cricket Conference merged. The league has grown in numbers and success ever since.

Here are other teams that have joined or departed from the league: