LAUDERHILL – Broward County will make international sporting event history May 20-23 when it hosts the first international cricket match ever played in the United States by full International Cricket Council (ICC) members.
Sri Lanka and the New Zealand BLACKCAPS will face off in a three-match Twenty20 (T20) series at Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium in Lauderhill, the only ICC-certified cricket stadium in North America. Both teams feature some of the world’s leading cricket players. The event is expected to draw thousands of cricket fans from throughout the United States and internationally to Broward County.
“The T20 series is a signature event for our park and stadium,” said Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl. “Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium is a world class facility and we are proud to be part of a historic first in the international cricket community.”
“Broward County has a diverse multicultural population and a large number of residents who are cricket players and cricket fans,” said Broward County Commissioner Albert C. Jones, whose district includes the Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium. “Cricket is the second most watched sport in the world and we’re honored to host this international event here.”
The Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium is a 110-acre facility completed by the Broward County Commission in November 2007. It has already hosted several smaller cricket events as well as concerts and other sporting events. The stadium features 5,000 covered permanent seats with additional seating for up to 15,000 possible – typical attendance at cricket games in other parts of the world featuring teams of this caliber.
Cricket is a fast growing sport in South Florida and the United States, and the second most popular sport in the world after soccer. There are an estimated 15 million cricket fans living in the United States.
This match marks the launch of a new strategic partnership between USA Cricket and New Zealand Cricket to further advance the sport in the United States. “USA Cricket has worked hard to bring this event about and we are very excited about the potential impact of this series for the growth and development of cricket in the United States,” said Gladstone Dainty, president of USA Cricket.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) CEO Justin Vaughan said, “NZC has long seen the dynamic potential of cricket in the USA.” He added that he hopes to see the BLACKCAPS playing in the USA on an annual basis.
The Sri Lanka-New Zealand match series follows the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies, which concludes with competitions in Barbados on May 16. Sri Lanka was a finalist in the 2009 event and is expected to perform well again this year. The BLACKCAPS were semi-finalists in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and made it through to the Super Eight stage of the 2009 event. The two teams will be competing in Broward County for the Pearls Cup, named for the Indian property development company, Pearls Infrastructure, sponsoring the matches.
USA Cricket CEO Donald Lockerbie said the three-match series for Broward has been in the works for some time as part of a new “Destination USA” initiative. “We believe that in order to grow the game of cricket in the USA, we need to have the best teams in the world play in our country,” said Lockerbie. “We want to demonstrate to the American public just how exciting the T20 format is. Cricket is already popular here but has lacked major media coverage. This inaugural series is the first step to reverse this situation.”
Cricket as a sporting event last made significant history in the United States in 1844, when teams from the United States and Canada met in the first international cricket event between two nations in world history. Now the stage is set for another historic sporting event.
The inaugural game is Thursday night, May 20, and matches are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23. Duncan Finch, Park Manager at Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium, encourages residents to come early to take in the festivities as vendors will be selling traditional foods of New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
“This promises to be a great introduction to the sport of cricket for the residents of Broward County and South Florida,” Finch said.
Game times, ticket information and pricing will be made available on the USA Cricket Web site, www.usaca.org. ESPN will also be broadcasting the series worldwide live from Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium.
