Sri Lanka and New Zealand will stage the first cricket matches on US soil between two full ICC members this weekend, a move officials hope will launch a US boom for the sport.
“The historic event will provide great exposure,” USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty said. “We’re very excited about the potential impact of this series for the growth and development of cricket in the United States.”
Saturday and Sunday afternoon matches will be staged at Lauderhill’s Central Broward Regional Park in Florida, the only ICC-approved venue in the United States. The 20,000-capacity facility must still upgrade lighting to ICC standards in order to host night events.
With an India property developer sponsoring the Pearls Cup Twenty20 matches and Indian Premier League officials talking about staging US events as early as 2011, the US breakthrough could be only a hint of greater things to come.
“We’ll be meeting with potential investors and event developers to keep building our momentum,” USA Cricket chief executive Don Lockerbie said. “Interest is already high and this is very encouraging.
“To grow the game of cricket in the USA, we need to have the best teams in the world play in our country. We want to demonstrate to the American public just how exciting the Twenty20 format is.”
USA Cricket hopes to organize a US Twenty20 league as quickly as 2012.
“Given the door to cricket has been opened to investment through the sale of Indian Premier League franchises, this model is a logical step to raising the capital required to take cricket in the US to another level,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said.
“The structure proposed is a wonderful opportunity for someone to get in on the ground floor, particularly given the growing level of interest in the US cricket market.”
“The historic event will provide great exposure,” USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty said. “We’re very excited about the potential impact of this series for the growth and development of cricket in the United States.”
Saturday and Sunday afternoon matches will be staged at Lauderhill’s Central Broward Regional Park in Florida, the only ICC-approved venue in the United States. The 20,000-capacity facility must still upgrade lighting to ICC standards in order to host night events.
With an India property developer sponsoring the Pearls Cup Twenty20 matches and Indian Premier League officials talking about staging US events as early as 2011, the US breakthrough could be only a hint of greater things to come.
“We’ll be meeting with potential investors and event developers to keep building our momentum,” USA Cricket chief executive Don Lockerbie said. “Interest is already high and this is very encouraging.
“To grow the game of cricket in the USA, we need to have the best teams in the world play in our country. We want to demonstrate to the American public just how exciting the Twenty20 format is.”
USA Cricket hopes to organize a US Twenty20 league as quickly as 2012.
“Given the door to cricket has been opened to investment through the sale of Indian Premier League franchises, this model is a logical step to raising the capital required to take cricket in the US to another level,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said.
“The structure proposed is a wonderful opportunity for someone to get in on the ground floor, particularly given the growing level of interest in the US cricket market.”
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