Cricket’s Olympic comeback is now in the diary. The LA28 organising committee has confirmed that the first ball will be bowled on 12 July, with the women’s bronze and gold-medal matches set for 20 July and the men’s equivalents on 29 July. Every fixture will be staged at Fairgrounds Stadium in Pomona, a temporary venue about 50 km east of downtown Los Angeles.
Six men’s and six women’s teams will contest a Twenty20 tournament – the shortest mainstream format, limited to 20 overs a side. Each squad may name 15 players, taking the total number of athletes to 180. Most days will feature back-to-back matches at 9.00 am and 6.30 pm local time, though the schedule leaves 14 and 21 July free for rest, travel or, if needed, reserve days.
Fairgrounds Stadium – officially Fairplex – spans nearly 500 acres and has welcomed the LA County Fair since 1922. It also hosts concerts, trade shows and a variety of sporting events, so the temporary cricket ground will sit within a well-used complex.
“When the world comes here for these Games, we will highlight every neighbourhood as we host a Games for all and work to ensure it leaves a monumental legacy,” Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said. “We are already delivering that legacy as we announce there have been more than one million enrolments in PlayLA.”
Bass added: “I want to thank LA28 and the International Olympic Committee for making these programmes possible and for their continued work to host the greatest Games yet.”
The sport’s only previous Olympic appearance was at Paris 1900, when Great Britain beat France in a two-day match to claim gold. More than a century on, administrators hope the 2028 slot will push cricket into new markets, especially the lucrative North American broadcast landscape.
Momentum has been building. Women’s cricket joined the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, and both genders have featured at three Asian Games (2010, 2014, 2023). The United States recently co-hosted the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup, with group matches in Texas, Florida and New York drawing healthy crowds and television numbers.
The LA programme is compact – a nine-day window for group games and semi-finals, followed by distinct medal days for each competition – yet it should be enough to showcase cricket’s pace, strategy and, crucially, brevity to a fresh Olympic audience.
