Biggies, but onlookers only
They are the unconquered frontiers of cricket -- giant nations with huge populations, but China and the United States can only look on from the sidelines as battle is joined at the World Cup.
The two nations together account for about 1.6 billion of the world's population but they will be absent from a tournament featuring the game's powerhouses plus minnows such as the Netherlands, Ireland and Canada.
It would be a mistake to draw too many parallels between the game in the world's two biggest economies. Cricket has long been woven into the sporting fabric in America but it is only now taking its first faltering steps in China.
Some reports say the game was played in the American colonies nearly 300 years ago, according to the International Cricket Council's website, and the United States was a destination for touring teams in the 19th century.
Previously on an upward trajectory, the team was last month relegated to division four of the ICC World Cricket League, but USA Cricket Association executive secretary John Aaron is upbeat about the future despite that setback.
"There is no doubt that the USA has the talent to compete on the world stage of cricket in division one matches. However, we lack the requisite facilities to compete nose-to-nose with our peers," he told AFP.
"We have been extremely successful on the basis of the raw talent and skill-sets of our players."
Aaron said the dream of the United States, admitted as an ICC Associate Member (where cricket is firmly established) in 1965, was to qualify for the World Cup or the World Twenty20 and it was more a case of "when" than "if" they get there.
And he believes there is room for cricket to muscle in alongside entrenched sports such as American football, baseball and basketball.
"With a cricket fan base north of 15 million there is an opportunity for the growth of cricket as a quasi-mainstream sport in the USA," he said, adding that high-profile events such as the World Cup could only boost the game.
Compared with the United States, China are novices, elected to the ICC as an affiliate member (the rung down from associate member) as recently as 2004 with ICC global development manager Matthew Kennedy talking two years later in terms of a 20-year project.
Huge strides were made at the Asian Games in November when the first official cricket match was played on Chinese soil in a tournament involving the likes of Test-playing nations Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
China failed to win a medal in either the men's or women's competitions but their athletic fielding and bowling caught the eye in front of a smattering of bemused spectators in Guangzhou.
China coach and former Pakistan international Rashid Khan, who began coaching in China in 2006, said they could be a powerful force within five years.
The Asian Cricket Council said it had helped China out with coaches and a curator and 200 schools had started to play cricket, with efforts also under way to get university cricket up and running.
Pakistan batting legend Javed Miandad, speaking to AFP in his role as cricket ambassador to China, spoke highly of what had been achieved in a short space of time despite a lack of resources.
Speaking on the boundary in the bizarre setting of China's southern industrial heartland, he said: "I have been to universities, colleges and schools and the main thing is they want to play this game in China."
He added: "They are doing well. I'm really impressed and they are very quick learners."
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