Cricket in Olympics: What happened when last time cricket featured at the Olympics

Cricket has finally been included in the Olympics 2028. Certainly, it is the popularity that has brought back cricket in Olympics after 128 years. The shortest format of cricket, T20, is expected to be included in it. Do you know when cricket was included in the Olympics and who became its winner then? Let's take a look at the full article.

Also Read: Cricket is set to be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

How cricket in Olympics 1900 happened?

Till now, cricket has been played only once in the Olympic Games. It was included in the Summer Olympic Games held in 1900. When the Athens Olympic Games were organized in 1896, cricket was also planned to be included then. However, due to non-availability of teams, cricket in Olympics was left out at the last moment.

Four years later, in 1900, Britain, France, Netherlands and Belgium agreed to send cricket teams to the Olympic Games held in Paris. Then, angry over not getting the hosting of the Olympic Games, Netherlands and Belgium announced not to send cricket teams. After this, the only and final cricket match of the Olympics was played between England and France at the Cycling Stadium, Vélodrome de Vincennes.

The only match was considered the final match

When the cricket teams of Belgium and Netherlands were out of the Olympics, only the teams of England and France were left to participate. Therefore, the Olympic organizers organized a match between the two teams, which was also declared the final match. This match was played on the lines of a Test match.

What happened in the match?

During the match, the Great Britain team batted first. However, the English team returned to the pavilion for just 117 runs. Frederick Cuming had scored the highest 38 runs for the England team. C. B. K. Beachcroft, who was the captain of the English team at that time, scored 23 runs. Apart from this, eight players failed to touch double figures. Anderson became the most successful bowler for France by taking 4 wickets. While Attrill, MacEvoy and Robinson took 2 wickets each.

In response to the British team's 117 runs, the French team could score only 78 runs in the first innings. John Braid scored the maximum 25 runs. At the same time, 5 players were out without opening their account. Christian took 7 wickets for Britain. After this, England Blues declared the innings at 145 runs after losing 5 wickets in the second innings. In the second innings, Alfred Bowerman scored 59 runs for England. Captain Beachcroft scored a half-century this time and added 54 runs to the team score. While Roques took 3 wickets for France.

After that, the French team had to score only 185 runs to snatch the gold from England. But, the entire team was out for 26 runs and returned to the pavilion. 6 players of France were out for zero. For England, Montagu Toller took 7 wickets for 10 runs. In this match, instead of 11 players from both the teams, 12-12 players came out to bat.

The match was lasted only for two days and the result was also declared. Winner Great Britain got the silver medal and runner-up France got the bronze medal. But Olympics recorded this match after 12 years. After that, England was given gold medal and France was given silver medal.

Cricket was not included in the Olympics again

Once again a strong effort was made to include cricket in Olympics held in St. Louis, America in 1904. But, due to lack of teams, it had to be kept out of the tournament. After this, cricket was never included in the Olympic Games.

However, till now cricket has been included six times in the major competitions where multiple sports are played. After the year 1900, it was included in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, 2010 Asian Games, and 2014 Asian Games. Cricket was also included in the Asian Games 2023. This time India won gold medals in both men and women categories.

Why was cricket not included in the Olympics?

Many reasons are given for cricket not being included in the Olympic Games. Actually, the first reason is that most of the cricket countries did not send entries for the Olympics. In such a situation, despite all efforts, it could not be included in the Olympics because teams could not be found.

Secondly, due to the cricket match taking too much time, it could not be included in the Olympic Games. Actually, cricket matches of both Test and ODI formats take a lot of time. Now T-20 format of cricket has been included in the Olympic Games 2028. At the same time, cricket is not played all over the world.