Cricket was originally scheduled to be included in the inaugural
1896 Summer Olympics, which were held in
Athens: cricket would have been the only team sport held at the Games. However, due to insufficient entries the tournament was cancelled.
1900 Games Cricket was held at the
1900 Summer Olympics in
Paris four years later but only two countries competed, Great Britain and hosts France. The French team was mostly represented by English expatriates, and it is officially considered a
mixed team while the English team was represented by Devon and Somerset Wanderers Cricket Club, so it was not nationally selected. The players were also mostly club cricketers — only the British side had any
first-class cricket experience, with eight such games through
Somerset's
Montagu Toller and
Alfred Bowerman. The teams played a two-day match over two
innings with 12-a-side, so the match did not attract first-class status. Great Britain won the match by 158 runs to win the gold medal: if the French had held out for five more minutes, the game would have been declared a draw. Knowledge of the game would have been lost but for the forethought of
John Symes, a member of the victorious team, who kept a scorecard in his own writing. A cricket tournament was scheduled for
1904 Summer Olympics held in
St. Louis, but it was cancelled due to a lack of entries.
Reintroduction in 2028 Many of cricket's governing bodies, including the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), were long opposed to a return to the Olympics. The ECB withdrew their opposition in 2015, and in March 2017, it was reported that
International Cricket Council chief
Dave Richardson thought the "time is right" for Olympic cricket. It was also reported that the opposition of the BCCI had softened. In October 2020,
USA Cricket stated that it saw a proposed inclusion of cricket in the
2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as a long-term goal. In 2020, the BCCI in its Annual General Meeting decided to back the ICC's bid for inclusion of
T20 cricket in 2028 after getting some clarifications from the International Olympic Committee. In August 2021, the ICC confirmed its plans to bid for the inclusion of cricket at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 and
2032 games. On 9 October 2023, the 2028 Olympic organising committee announced that cricket was on the list of sports they wished to introduce. On 13 October 2023, the IOC announced that the bid was accepted and placed under voting to finalize its inclusion in 2028 during the
141st IOC Session in
Mumbai between 14 and 16 October 2023. It was confirmed on 16 October 2023 that cricket would be featured in the 2028 Olympics as only two IOC members voted against inclusion, featuring both men's and women's T20 tournaments. The LA 2028 Organizing Committee President noted that Indian cricket legend
Virat Kohli was one of the main reasons behind the sport's introduction to the Olympic program and thanked him. ==Team eligibilities==