Cricket was originally scheduled to be included in the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, which were held in Athens: cricket would have been the only team sport held at the Games. However, due to insufficient entries the tournament was cancelled.
1900 Games
Vélodrome de Vincennes hosted the cricket matches at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.Poster of the only Olympic cricket match
Cricket was held at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris four years later but only two countries competed, Great Britain and hosts France. The French team was mostly represented by English expatriates, and it is officially considered a mixed team[1][2] while the English team was represented by Devon and Somerset Wanderers Cricket Club, so it was not nationally selected. The players were also mostly club cricketers — only the British side had any first-class cricket experience, with eight such games through Somerset's Montagu Toller and Alfred Bowerman.[3]
The teams played a two-day match over two innings with 12-a-side, so the match did not attract first-class status. Great Britain won the match by 158 runs to win the gold medal:[4][5] if the French had held out for five more minutes, the game would have been declared a draw.[6] Knowledge of the game would have been lost but for the forethought of John Symes, a member of the victorious team, who kept a scorecard in his own writing.
A cricket tournament was scheduled for 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, but it was cancelled due to a lack of entries.[7]
In October 2020, USA Cricket stated that it saw a proposed inclusion of cricket in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as a long-term goal.[12][13] In 2020, the BCCI in its Annual General Meeting decided to back the ICC's bid for inclusion of T20 cricket in 2028 after getting some clarifications from the International Olympic Committee.[14][15][16] In August 2021, the ICC confirmed its plans to bid for the inclusion of cricket at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 and 2032 games.[17]
On 9 October 2023, the 2028 Olympic organising committee announced that cricket was on the list of sports they wished to introduce.[18] On 13 October 2023, the IOC announced that the bid was accepted and placed under voting to finalize its inclusion in 2028 during the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai between 14 and 16 October 2023. It was confirmed on 16 October 2023 that cricket would be featured in the 2028 Olympics as only two IOC members voted against inclusion, featuring both men's and women's T20 tournaments.[19][20][21][22] LA 2028 Organizing Committee President noted that Indian cricket legend Virat Kohli was one of the main advocates for the sport's introduction to the Olympic program and thanked him.[23]
Additionally, cricketers from Anguila and Montserrat, who otherwise play for West Indies, would be eligible for Great Britain at the Olympics, whereas those from Sint Maarten, who also play for West Indies, would be eligible to play for the Netherlands.
