Officially Sanctioned by the United States Cricket Association

Followed by nearly one billion people around the world, cricket is a game with a proud tradition and a brilliant future. Prince Philip once said: "Some people seem to be under the incredible delusion that cricket is only a game." You are cordially invited to delight in the revelry and mystery of one of the world's greatest sports. A sport where international matches last five days. A sport where many of the rules are unwritten. A sport where the ball can be delivered at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. And most importantly, a sport where, in the heat of battle, everything stops for tea.

The earliest record of Cricket in America is found in the "secret diary" of William Byrd II of Virginia - so-called because it was written in shorthand. He refers to an early morning game with family and friends on the front lawn of his impressive estate, Westover, on the banks of the James River in Virginia on April 25th, 1709. There is also evidence that some of George Washington's troops played a game of "wickets" at Valley Forge in the summer of 1778 - no doubt also a form of cricket.

Today the sport has blossomed into a nationwide recreational pastime with over 10,000 players in all parts of the United States. With PGA-style grandeur, the Philadelphia International Cricket Festival is at the forefront of Tournament Cricket in North America. The event venue boasts a great lawn and the grand architecture reminiscent of the Golden Era and provides the perfect setting for indulging in your favorite pastime.

The Festival offers settings described by one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sir Garfield Sobers, MBE, as amongst the finest in the world. Past teams have heralded from England, Holland, Canada, the Grand Caymans, Bermuda and the United States, including Florida, California, Hawaii, the historic Mid-Atlantic and New England.

Schedule and Costs

Dates: Thursday 3rd May through Sunday 6th May 2001.

Venues: Great Field, Merion Cricket Club (Montgomery Avenue, Haverford) Cope Field, Haverford College (Lancaster Avenue, Haverford) Manheim Field, Germantown Cricket Club (Manheim Avenue, Philadelphia) Willow Grove Field, Philadelphia Cricket Club (Willow Grove Avenue, Philadelphia)

Format: The 2001 PCCE will consist of 12 cricket teams, four days of cricket, and an Event final with awards ceremony at the end. The 12 teams will be divided into two groups of six. The winner of each group of six will advance to the final. Matches in the event will consist of 25 overs per innings. Batsmen must retire after scoring 50 runs but may return at the end of the innings. Bowlers will be limited to 5 overs per innings. Each team will play a total of five matches over Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Two teams will then play in a 25-over final on Sunday afternoon. There will be no limit on the number of runs that a batsman can score in the final but bowlers will be limited to 5 overs in the final. See attached rules for details.

Hosting Teams: Merion Cricket Club, Germantown Cricket Club, Philadelphia Cricket Club, British Officers' Cricket Club, Haverford College Cricket Club, C.C. Morris Cricket Library.

Guest Teams to date: Free Foresters (UK), Stage Cricket Club (UK), Toronto Cricket Club (Canada), Mad Dogs (NY), Marin Cricket Club (CA), British and Dominion Cricket Club (CA)

Accommodation: Teams are requested to stay at the Adams Mark Hotel, City Line Avenue (Phone 215-581-5000). Cost of the rooms (single/double occupancy) is US $98 plus tax per night. Cost of the rooms (triple/quad occupancy) is US $108 plus tax per night. Rooms must be reserved directly by the visiting teams using a credit card no later than March 1st, 2001. Special arrangements for accommodation with families can be made if needed.

Cost: A 12 player team fee of US $2,400 includes dinners on Friday and Saturday nights, breakfasts and lunches on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, refreshments each day, complimentary beer at end of each day, souvenir apparel, cricket balls, umpires and awards. You will be responsible for your own accommodation and transportation. Additional tickets may be purchased for US $200 per person.

RSVP: To ensure your place in this exciting event, please send a non-refundable deposit in the amount of US $500, payable to the "Philadelphia Cricket Charity Event" c/o C.C. Morris Cricket Library Haverford College Library, 370 W. Lancaster Ave. Haverford, PA 19041-1392 USA, by March 1st, 2001. The deposit will be credited to your players' fees. The balance of the players' fees will be due by May 1st, 2001.

Entry Form

Name of Cricket Club: ___________________________________
Name of Contact Person: ___________________________________
Address of Contact: ____________________________________
Phone of Contact: ___________________________________
Fax of Contact: ___________________________________
E-mail of Contact ___________________________________

Send Club Profile and Club Photo - Please provide a 100-word profile on the club and a color 4" x 6" photo of touring team/clubhouse.

Send Festival Non-Refundable Deposit of US $500 Attached Due no later than 1st March, 2001

Please make checks payable to "Philadelphia Cricket Charity Event" Mail To: Philadelphia Cricket Charity Event c/o C.C. Morris Cricket Library Haverford College Library 370 W. Lancaster Avenue Haverford, PA 19041-1392 USA Contact Numbers: 610-896-4983 (phone) or 610-896-4919 (fax)

E-mail: applied@fast.net

Web: www.cricketfestival.com

Format and Rules

Twelve teams will participate in the 2001 PCCE. The teams will be assigned to two groups of six. Within each group of six, teams will play the five other teams. Each team will play morning and/or afternoon matches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and on the Sunday morning, for a total of five games. The two teams that finish at the top of each group will play each other in the final. The final will take place on Sunday afternoon at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

• 1. Matches will consist of one innings of 25 six-ball overs per team.
• 2. Each team will play with eleven players.
• 3. Late arrival by one or both teams causing a delay of game, will result in the loss of batting overs for the delaying team(s) (one over for every 5-minutes of delay). Over penalties will be assessed by the match umpires and/or tournament organizers. However, matches may commence with less than eleven players present without any reduction in batting overs.
• 4. There will be a limit of five overs per bowler per innings.
• 5. Bowlers' run-ups must be less than 16 yards.
• 6. Batsmen are to retire at 50 runs but may then continue their innings at the end of the batting order.
• 7. All footwear must have rubber, flat-bottomed soles. (No metal or rubber studs allowed on the fields.)
• 8. No substitutions will be allowed during the game except for injury.
• 9. Wide balls will be called if a delivery is 18" or more outside the off stump, or 12" or more outside the leg stump. One run will be awarded per wide and one-additional ball will be bowled.
• 10. In the event of rain delays, overs played by each team will be reduced by the umpires to fit the remaining time. Overs may be changed at any time during the game by the umpires to allow for inclement weather conditions.
• 11. Each team needs to bat a minimum of 15 overs for results to qualify as a game.
• 12. Rained out games (neither or only one team bats) will be decided by either indoor matches (see Rain Weather Schedule) or other method agreed upon by team captains and organizers.
• 13. Tied games will be awarded to the team with the least wickets lost. 14. The team with the most number of wins in each group will proceed to the Festival finals on Sunday afternoon. For a two-way tie, the team winning the head-to-head game will advance. For a three-way tie, the team with the highest run average (total runs/overs played) will advance. 15. The Festival final will consist of 25 six-ball overs, with a limit of 50 runs per batsman (who may return at the end of the innings) and a limit of 5 overs per bowler.
• 16. The umpires will be responsible for all time keeping and implementation of the Festival Rules.
• 17. Disputes will be resolved by a committee made up of the captains of the involved teams, at least one tournament organizer and at least one umpire.
• 18. Umpires' decisions are final.

History of Cricket in Philadelphia

The noted English historian and member of The Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) in London had tears in his eyes as he stood at 49th and Chester looking out towards a baseball diamond. "You mean they don't even have a plaque to commemorate this famous site?" he asked. It was here between 1874 and 1913 that the Belmont Cricket Club was once located.

Not many today are aware that at one time the sport of cricket, which is currently watched and played by hundreds of millions throughout the world, was a major sport on the East Coast and that Philadelphia was its mecca! Between the founding of the Union Cricket Club in Camden in 1840 and after the Civil War when baseball began to take over, our city and its immediate environs boasted as many as 120 cricket clubs - the most famous being The Germantown Cricket Club, The Philadelphia Cricket Club, The Merion Cricket Club and Belmont. Also, interestingly, the second oldest intercollegiate sport is thought to be cricket introduced at Haverford College in 1834 - the oldest being the Harvard/Yale Boat Race.

Is cricket here just a niche sport which very few know about? Well, there may well be a renaissance taking place right under our noses! Hard stats are difficult to come by, but there are roughly 350 cricket clubs throughout the country and a pool of about 10,000 active players - largely from cricket-playing countries of the former British Commonwealth - Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa, to name the major ones plus a whole host of others. Did you know, for example, that cricket is now played in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Italy?

In the forefront of the game's revival is The Philadelphia Cricket Charity Event, now entering its ninth year to be held on May 3rd through 6th, 2001 which will be dedicated to raising funds for charity. Increasingly popular as it goes forward, the Charity Event attracts star teams from throughout the United States and overseas. Its glittering success is attested to by the calibre of previous guests which include Gary Kirsten, the opening bat of the current South African test team, Sir Garfield Sobers, and Sir Richard Hadlee. Incidentally, a stone's throw from last year's charity, Inglis House, is the Cedar Grove Cricket Ground, once home to the General Electric and Fairmount Cricket Clubs and currently the Pryor Cricket Club.

The main cricketing sponsors are the famous Philadelphia cricket clubs - The Merion Cricket Club, The Germantown Cricket Club, The Philadelphia Cricket Club, The British Officers' Cricket Club, and Haverford College Cricket XI. Not only do all of them have a firm place in the history of Philadelphia cricket but while visiting Merion and Germantown, one of the greatest cricketers ever, the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers, said that in his view, with the addition of a few facilities, they were absolutely first class cricketing venues of world stature.

Another loyal supporter of the festival is the C.C. Morris Cricket Library Association. Located at Haverford College near the Magill Library, is this fascinating collection of cricket items often described as the largest collection of cricket literature and cricket memorabilia in the Western Hemisphere. It has on its Board some of the most famous names in cricket throughout the world and is well known far and wide. Cricket is decidedly a gentleman's game - one of the few remaining highly competitive sports where skill, temperament and patience are rewarded but where, also, sportsmanship is in the forefront. Amar Singh

Below are the results of the previous seven events:

Year Winner                Other Participants
1993 Charlotte (NC)*       Mad Dogs (NY), Merion (PA), British Officers' (PA). 
1994 Lloyds of London      English Law Society (UK), Toronto Boks (Canada),
                           Charlotte (NC), (England)* Mad Dogs (NY), Merion 
                           (PA), British Officers' (PA), Haverford College (PA).
1995 West XI Sarasota (FL) Charlotte (NC), Mad Dogs (NY), Merion (PA), British
                           Officers' Bermuda) (PA), Haverford College (PA), 
                           All Stars (World). 
1996 Legg Trappers Lloyds of London (UK)
                           English Law Society (UK), Village Greenies (Cayman 
                           (Canada) Islands); Commonwealth (MA), Marin (CA),
                           Mad Dogs (NY), Merion (PA), British Officers' (PA),
                           Germantown (PA), Haverford College (PA), GOP (PA).
1997 Germantown (PA)       Hampshire Wayfarers (UK), Upper Canada College 
                           (Canada), Village Greenies (Cayman Islands); Marin 
                           (CA), Charlotte (NC), Merion (PA), British 
                           Officers'. 
1998 Zamigos (Holland)*    Exiles (Bermuda), Toronto Cricket Club (Canada), 
                           Marin (CA), Mad Dogs (NY), NY Columbia University 
                           (NY), Commonwealth (MA), Merion (PA), British 
                           Officers' (PA), Germantown (PA), Haverford College 
                           (PA), GOP (PA). 
1999 British Officers' (PA) Lloyds of London (UK), Village Greenies (Cayman 
                           Islands), Toronto Cricket Club (Canada), Marin (CA), 
                           Mad Dogs (NY), Germantown (PA), Haverford College 
                           (PA), Merion (PA), Philadelphia Cricket Club (PA). 
2000 Marin (CA)            Lloyds of London (UK), Free Foresters (UK), Toronto 
                           Cricket Club (Canada), British & Dominion (CA), 
                           Commonwealth (MA), Mad Dogs (NY), British Officers' 
                           (PA), Germantown (PA), Haverford College (PA), 
                           Merion (PA), Philadelphia Cricket Club (PA). 
* honorary

For further information, please contact

Craig J. Joss
Philadelphia International Cricket Festival Organizer
P.O. Box 315
Haverford PA 19041

610-658-2000 - phone 610-658-0295 - fax applied@fast.net - email

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