World Cup Soccer 2022 Qatar

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BACK STORY Cricket!

While much of the United States is focused on basketball, much of the world has been following the quadrennial Cricket World Cup.

There are only two matches left of the 49 in the six-week tournament, hosted this year by Australia and New Zealand: today’s semifinal between Australia and India, and the final on Sunday, when today’s winner will face New Zealand.

Cricket is the planet’s second biggest sport (behind soccer), a genteel and much older cousin of baseball, with an estimated global audience of one billion people.

Its roots date to 13th-century England, and it is one of that country’s biggest exports to its former colonies.

Even in the American colonies, cricket was fairly popular until the mid-18th century. But complex rules, matches that can last days, and a field that is much larger than a baseball diamond may have contributed to its decline.

After the Civil War, baseball’s national league attracted money and fans, while cricket clubs in the United States stayed local and withered.

The nation also wanted a sport it could call its own, rather than one the British created.

Victoria Shannon contributed reporting.