Cricket
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Rhode Island Cricket League
1890 Pawtucket Cricket Club
1891 Pawtucket Cricket Club 1892 Thornton Cricket Club 1893 Ashton Cricket Club 1894-1909 No league 1910 Benns Mohairs Cricket Club 1911 Pawtucket Cricket Club 1912 Benns Mohairs Cricket Club 1913 Benns Mohairs Cricket Club 1914 Potter-Johnston Cricket Club 1915 Benns Mohairs Cricket Club 1916 Benns Mohairs Cricket Club 1917 Fall River Cricket Club 1918 Fall River Cricket Club 1919 Fall River Cricket Club 1920 New Bedford Cricket Club 1921 N/A 1922 N/A 1923 Providence Cricket Club Rhode Island & District Cricket League
1940 Bay View Cricket Club
1941 Providence Cricket Club R.I. & Central Mass. Cricket League
1924 Lorraine MFG Cricket Club
1925 Benns Mohairs Cricket Club 1926 Bay View Cricket Club 1927 Benns Mohairs 1928 Bay View Cricket Club 1930 Minbello Cricket Club 1931 Fall River Cricket Club 1932 Bay View Cricket Club 1933 Bay View Cricket Club 1934 Wanskuck Cricket Club 1935 Fall River Cricket Club 1936 Providence Cricket Club 1937 Wanskuck Cricket Club 1938 Barrington Cricket Club 1939 Barrington Cricket Club 1940 Bay View Cricket Club 1941 Providence Cricket Club |
Cricket was once a national game in the United States. It was played by British Colonists in North America by the start of the 18th century and was one of the first outdoor sports to be played on these shores. An 1844 cricket match between teams from the United States and Canada was one of the first international sporting events in the modern world, predating the revival of the Olympic Games by more than 50 years. Rhode Islanders were playing cricket as early as the 1870's on independent teams throughout the state and nearby Massachusetts. In 1890 the Rhode Island Cricket League was formed with the following clubs; British Hosiery Co., Pawtucket, Saylesville, Ashton, Lorraine and Rumford. Pawtucket was awarded the first league pennant. Teams in the league competed for the Grace Memorial Cup and later the Nicholson Trophy. Teams also competed in a match for the Lupine Cup given by the Lupien Jewelry Company in Providence. Meiklejohn & Sons, dealers in sporting goods, offered a prize bat and ball every season to the cricketer having the best batting or bowling average for the season. The Pawtucket Cricket Club, Providence Cricket Club, Benns Mohairs Cricket Club, Lonsdale Cricket Club and Thornton Cricket Clubs were mainstay teams of cricketers. Popularity fell before a resurgence in the late 1890s. League play continued in 1910 with the long running Rhode Island and Central Massachusetts Cricket league (preceded by the the Rhode Island District Cricket League) in 1924 including bay state teams.
An annual contest between the R.I. Cricket League and the Boston League was started in 1901 lasting over 40 years. In the 1942 season the league changed to the Massachusetts Cricket League with the Providence Cricket Club the lone Rhode Island club. Cricket grounds were at fields such as Reservoir Avenue Grounds, Thornton Cricket Grounds, Weston Field, Burgess Memorial Field, Haines Park, Hopkins Park and Neutaconkanut Park. Joseph Benn & Sons, Ltd., was one of a number of English textile manufacturers that located in Rhode Island around the turn of the 20th century. The mill cricket team, Benn’s Mohairs Greystones, played in the league. Spectators dressed in white to watch the matches. The company donated this land for Cricket Field on Angell Avenue in Johnston. After league play waned the Providence Cricket Club continued to play throughout the 1940s.
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