NZC – International cricket comes to Florida, USA

An international cricket dream almost a decade in the making is about to be realised for the City of Lauderhill, in Florida.

The City will host the first cricket matches ever to be played between two full members of the International Cricket Council in the United States of America when New Zealand and Sri Lanka square off for three Twenty20 internationals from May 20-23. The series is being jointly delivered by New Zealand Cricket and the United States of America Cricket Association to launch a new strategic partnership between the organisations.

Lauderhill's quest for international cricket to service a melting pot of cricket-loving nationals living in the City began in 2002 with a bid to host warm-up matches for the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. As part of that bid process, the Central Broward Regional Park was developed with cricket facilities central to the venue. Although the World Cup bid was ultimately not successful, the City is about to be rewarded for its vision and tenacity with the hosting of the country's first full international cricket matches.

"We are delighted to be able to host New Zealand and Sri Lanka in these historic matches," said City of Lauderhill Mayor, Richard J. Kaplan.

"The City and County have invested resources into the Regional Park with exactly this type of event in mind. Cricket is the world's second most popular sport and the City of Lauderhill includes people from the cricket mad nations of the West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That makes a powerful formula for the success of international cricket in this area," he said.

The Mayor himself has embraced the new sport and has participated in a number of gala matches. He has also actively promoted a local evening cricket league to encourage the growth of the game. The sports-friendly Mayor easily identified the many similarities between cricket and baseball.

"Both sports need power hitting, athletic fielding, accurate delivery of the ball and a lot of courage. I am sure that local residents who have not been exposed to the game will enjoy the experience and want more of it," he said.

The teams from New Zealand and Sri Lanka will fly into Fort Lauderdale directly from their commitments at the World Twenty20 Championship currently being contested in the West Indies. They will play matches at Central Broward Park on Thursday May 20, Saturday May 22 and Sunday May 23. These full international matches will be supported by two games between the United States of America and Jamaica at the Park on Friday May 21 and Saturday May 22.

Tickets for the matches are available from www.ticketmaster.com

Schedule:

20/05/2010 - BLACKCAPS vs Sri Lanka - Twenty-20
Central Broward Regional Park, Florida
+1d, NZ 8:00am

22/05/2010 - BLACKCAPS vs Sri Lanka - Twenty-20
Central Broward Regional Park, Florida
+1d, NZ 7:00am

23/05/2010 - BLACKCAPS vs Sri Lanka - Twenty-20
Central Broward Regional Park, Florida
+1d, NZ 4:00am