Tuesday, May 04, 2010

USA to Host New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka in International Cricket



Seating at the Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, FL.

Ticket sections: P1 is any reserved seating in the red sections 1E to 11E and 1W to 11W. P2 is General Admission in the yellow section. P3 is Handicap Accessible areas in sections the red sections. P4 is a specially reserved Hospitality section in the yellow area, and the ticket price includes food and drink.


May 20-23, 2010, at the Central Regional Park in Lauderhill, the US Cricket Association will be hosting three 20/20 International Cricket games between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. These games are the first internationally officially sanctioned games between national teams in the only certified cricket stadium 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, http://www.usaca.org/. ESPN will also be broadcasting the series worldwide live from Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium.

UPDATE: The game for Thursday has been cancelled, and new games have been reset to Saturday and Sunday during the day. See the schedule at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the Stadium. Over 7000 tickets have been sold so far.

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