ICC 'excited' as cricket's newest stadium launched in New York

NEW DELHI: The inauguration of the newly constructed

Nassau County International Cricket Stadium

, situated near New York, took place on Wednesday, with the global cricketing body expressing its enthusiasm for expanding the sport's reach through the upcoming

T20 World Cup

in June.
With a seating capacity of 34,000, the stadium boasts infrastructure reminiscent of the Las Vegas Formula 1 circuit, along with drop-in pitches prepared in Florida.

Among its eight scheduled World Cup matches, the stadium is set to host the much-anticipated India-Pakistan encounter on June 9.
The flagship 20-over tournament will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the United States, commencing on June 1, with venues in New York, Florida, and Dallas. The

International Cricket Council

(ICC) is pleased with the attention surrounding the India-Pakistan clash and views the Nassau project as integral to expanding cricket's footprint in the US.
"Yeah, absolutely! We can run that game anywhere and the interest in the fixture would be immense," Chris Tetley, the ICC's head of events, told reporters in a media roundtable.

"The news stories that we have seen and the media coverage in the US itself as well as amongst the cricket media around the world. I have not seen that before around an ICC event."
Tetley added: "We are really excited to bring the T20 World Cup cricket to the US and the opportunity that it presents to the sport and from what I can see there is an audience really waiting for us to come."
T20 Cricket will also feature as one of five new sports at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Making a cricket stadium in Nassau remained a huge challenge for the ICC, who got in Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough for the job.
Hough created the first drop-in pitch in Adelaide in 2013 and the latest strips at the Nassau County ground promise good cricket and balance between bat and ball.
"People shouldn't be concerned about drop-in pitches," said Hough.
"They are proven around the world, definitely in Australia. Some of the best cricket is played on drop-in pitches and are really successful."
(With inputs from AFP)