Cricket at the 1900 Summer Olympics

A cricket match was played as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics, took place on 19–20 August at the Vélodrome de Vincennes between teams representing Great Britain and France.

Great Britain won the match by 158 runs. The French team included ten British nationals, two of whom were born in France, and two Frenchmen: as such, it is considered to be a mixed team, though it is currently listed by the IOC as representing France.

Originally, four teams entered - Belgium, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands - and they were scheduled to compete in a knockout tournament, with the semi-finals scheduled for August 4–5 and August 11–12, and the final scheduled for August 19–20.

However, Belgium and the Netherlands both withdrew before the draw as the Netherlands were unable to field a complete cricket team, while Belgium did not send their cricket team to Paris. Therefore, the semi-finals were scratched, and Great Britain played France in a single match on the dates originally scheduled for the final.

Neither team was nationally selected: the British side was a touring club, the Devon and Somerset Wanderers (alias ''Devon County Wanderers''), while the French team, the French Athletic Club Union, was composed mainly of British expatriates living in Paris.

The two-day match commenced on 19 August 1900. Great Britain batted first and scored 117, and bowled France out for 78. Great Britain then scored 145 for 5 in their second innings and declared, setting the hosts a target of 185 to win: Great Britain then bowled out France for 26 to win the match by 158 runs, a significant margin, but with only five minutes remaining before stumps. The Great Britain team was awarded silver medals and the French team bronze medals, together with miniature statues of the Eiffel Tower.

While 1900 is the only Olympiad where cricket was part of the official programme, it will return at the 2028 Games in the Twenty20 format. All events which were restricted to amateurs, open to all nations, open to all competitors, and without handicapping, are now regarded as Olympic events (except for ballooning). The IOC has never decided which events were "Olympic" and which were not. Provided by Wikipedia