World Cup Cricket 'Square' Arrives In New York After Trip From Florida
T20 World Cup 2024 Updates: Ten cricket pitches have completed their journey up the East Coast of the United States from Florida to New York state and are being installed in a new stadium built for next month's T20 World
"It's been an impressive piece of logistics that has gone into moving 10 pitches, on 20 trucks, plus backup trucks, with the route planning, the timing through, I can't remember how many different states," Tetley said.
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"The permissions to take out agricultural materials through different states, traffic considerations, timing over bridges and we wanted to make sure the trays are out of the ground for as short a time as possible -- extremely, extremely impressive," he added.
The temporary 34,000 capacity stadium at Eisenhower Park has already been built with stands and hospitality areas already in place and the outfield has been put in place.
Hough said the surface is likely to be a typical of the kind used for T20 matches, where fans expect to see big shots from the batsmen.
"Our ambition is to produce pitches along the lines where they're good quality pitches, minimal spin, minimal seam and ball coming onto the bat and let the players play the shot," he said.
The first World Cup game at the venue will feature Sri Lanka v South Africa on June 3 but organizers are planning some test events before then.
- World class facilities -
Much of the material for the stands has been taken from Formula One motor racing and will be dismantled after the end of the World Cup.
But the international standard playing surface will remain in place with the possibility of it being used for local cricket.
"The physical structures we have installed will go away, the park will be returned to grassland, but with the legacy of a world class cricket field," said Tetley.
"There is also the training facility that we have developed so the cricket community is going to end up with some world class facilities to utilize.
"As to what happens to the space in the future, that really depends on the local cricket community, Nassau County and USA Cricket as to what they want to do with it. It is there, it is available," he said.
Cricket remains a fringe sport in the United States but is avidly followed by immigrant communities, particularly from the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean.
Last year, a new T20 tournament was launched, Major League Cricket, which was held near Dallas, Texas, at a converted minor-league baseball park.
The Grand Prairie venue will also host World Cup games, as will the country's first international standard venue in Lauderhill, South Florida.
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Major League Cricket has attracted a number of international players, with former Australia captain Steve Smith recently signing up to play for Washington Freedom in this year's edition which starts in July.
