Cricket is set to feature at the Los Angeles Olympics 2028 after a massive gap of 128 years. The only time when the sport was played at the Olympics was back in 1900 in Paris. Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium were slated to participate. But the Netherlands and Belgium pulled out at the last moment which led to only two teams playing a lone match for the gold medal.
Great Britain and France locked horns in the final and interestingly, both teams batted twice each with the match taking place for two days. The match didn’t have a first-class status as well as 12 players featured for each team. It turned out to be a low-scoring encounter with Great Britain batting first and getting bowled out for just 117 runs. Frederick Cuming was the top-scorer with 38 runs while France’s bowler W Andersen shined with a four-wicket haul.
France, in response, were skittled only for 78 runs with only two of their batters crossing the 10-run mark. FW Christian of Great Britain was the best bowler picking up seven wickets in the innings. In their second essay, Great Britain put up a better effort and scored 145 runs for the loss of five wickets before their declaring their innings to set up a target of 185 runs for France to win the gold medal.
CBK Beachcoft (54) and Alfred Bowerman (59) scored half-centuries for the side while F Roques was the best bowler for France in the second innings with three wickets. It was an even poor effort from France in their second essay as there literally bundled out for just 26 runs with six of their batters failing to open their account. Montagu Toller picked up seven wickets for Great Britain while conceding just nine runs in the innings. Great Britain won the match by 158 runs to secure a gold medal in cricket.