Cricket this decade finally expanded into the U.S. to fulfil long-time ambitions.

Last year’s T20 World Cup was partially played there with many games held at a $30 million temporary stadium in New York, while cricket will end a 128-year Olympic drought at the Los Angeles Olympics.

Major League Cricket, a well-heeled T20 franchise league luring many of the world’s best players, will start its third season this year and has plans to soon expand from six to eight teams.

From a strategic point of view, the U.S. has for some time been the growth country for cricket and seen as the sport’s sleeping giant. While the development there has been encouraging and its future increasingly promising, China has fallen off the map after once being ranked alongside the U.S. as a target market.

ForbesAs Focus Intensifies On Rising U.S., Cricket In China Remains A Work In ProgressBy Tristan Lavalette

“From a strategic point of view, U.S. and China were the two target markets. U.S. was No. 1, and China was No. 2,” Tim Anderson, the ICC’s head of global development from 2010 to 2016, once told me.

“We needed to demonstrate return on investment. Having more competitive teams on the stage – which we’re seeing now – but equally it was about how the emerging cricket market could impact the economics globally of the sport.”

Chinese cricket, however, has not grown as hoped with their women’s team ranked 48th in the T20I rankings, while the men’s sit 88th. Observers close to the scene have feared that the sport’s administrators have lost interest in its pet project in a country noted for bureaucratic hurdles. Mysteriously, the Chinese Cricket Association, which has been a member of the ICC since 2004, doesn’t even have a website.

But in a much-needed tonic, Cricket New South Wales and Sydney Cricket Club have partnered up with the Chinese Cricket Association in a five-year deal, where Chinese players, coaches and administrators will receive expertise in T20 high performance.

As part of the agreement, the Chinese men’s and women’s national teams lived and trained in Sydney in recent months, utilising some of Cricket NSW’s facilities.

“The Chinese Cricket Association is proud to be in partnership with Cricket NSW and the Sydney Cricket Club to accelerate the development of cricket in China from the grass roots to the elite level,” a Chinese Cricket Association spokesperson said.

“Our national teams have benefitted greatly from the time spent in Sydney these past few months, and we look forward to exploring opportunities for further development with CNSW and SCC in the future.”

There will be further training and competitive opportunities under the deal, with the hope for China to one day qualify for the Olympics.

“We have been delighted to be able to work with Sydney Cricket Club in building this relationship with the Chinese Cricket Association and over the last few months, the Chinese men’s and women’s national teams,” Cricket NSW chief Lee Germon said.

“We are looking forward to continuing to grow this partnership and helping China qualify for the Olympic Games.”

Cricket was played at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou at the University of Technology Pingfeng field, which was once a park adorned with sunflower plants. China didn’t field any teams at the event after their women finished fourth at the 2010 and 2014 editions. Cricket’s future in the Asian Games is uncertain.

But China being able to one day qualify for the Olympics would be a game-changer for the sport, just like it has opened up so many possibilities in the U.S.

“If cricket got into the Olympics that would change the dynamics for the sport in China,” Anderson previously told me. “China qualifying for a World Cup or cricket being part of the Olympics would be a thing.”