ICC messes up T20 World Cup in underprepared USA

The scorecard reading ‘match abandoned without a ball bowled’ harks back to the 1970s and 1980s when facilities were rudimentary and heavy rainfall would mean no possibility of a game, leaving fans, players, sponsors and all stakeholders distraught and helpless.

Those were the days when cricket had less money in even the Test playing nations and the International Cricket Council (ICC) was yet to get fat on money.

Nowadays though, the ICC is flush with denarius aureus, and sponsors are willing to pour millions. Cricket has spread far and wide, embraced technology and methods to better the playing and viewing experience.

Yet, there is something in the planning that is lacking.

For why would an important tournament like the T20 World Cup be made to open Big Apple’s account in international cricket without testing the waters.

New York, Dallas and Lauderhill, all these three cities in USA hosted Group A matches, and some of Group D matches. The obvious idea was to cash in on the massive presence of South Asians – primarily Indians and Pakistanis as well as Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans – settled in the United States.

The most expensive India-Pakistan match ticket at New York was worth 10,000 US dollars which translates to over eight hundred thousand or eight lakh Indian rupees and over 27 hundred thousand or 27 lakh Pakistani rupees. These amounts are good enough to buy an apartment in many tier 2 cities in the two nations or buy an acre of land in many parts of these nations.

However, the ICC floundered and couldn’t give the value for money to the crowd – the pitch at New York appeared underprepared and not tested while the drainage facilities at Lauderhill in Florida, which has hosted a few internationals before, was not up to mark.

New York was hosting international cricket for the first time, at a makeshift stadium and it got to host eight matches, including those involving the most watched teams like India and Pakistan.

In their commentary stint during one match, former India player and coach Ravi Shastri and ex-Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram were discussing the state of the ground.

They said that a drop-in pitch usually takes a year to settle but this one has been put into use in just five months.

Vijay Patel, a former Gujarat state team coach who is now in USA and associated with Houston Premier League and has guided USA national team players like Monank Patel (also for Gujarat juniors), Shayan Jahangir, Nitish Kumar and Milind Kumar, told www.theflyslip.online that the New York pitch hasn’t been tested much.

“It is a newly-prepared pitch, and no matches were played before the World Cup. They played a couple of warm-up matches but I think that’s not enough for a newly-laid wicket. But yes, [lack of] time was also a factor,” said Patel.  

India’s chase of 111 against USA proved to be the highest on the spongy New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium pitch where batting was difficult.

This is T20 cricket and pitches are expected to be skewed a bit in favour of batsmen.

The highest total on that pitch was by Canada – 137/7 – against Ireland.

None of the great batsmen of this era, including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli or Babar Azam, could get their shots going.

The Central Broward Park in Lauderhill, Florida hosted four matches and three of those had to be abandoned without a ball bowled. A couple of the match days saw no rain but the drainage was so poor that the wet outfield, caused by rain over the past days, couldn’t get dry. It was sad to see that there weren’t even full ground covers to prevent this.

The Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas was the only venue in USA that saw decent games. However, it hosted only four of the 16 games played in the States.

Quite funnily, the stadium at New York, which hosted eight of the 16 matches in USA, is now being dismantled.

The ICC has messed up big time and if it really has to take the idea of spreading cricket to other countries through big-ticket events seriously, it needs to give them time to get proper facilities in place. Milking quick cash without creating legacy will only create faux pas such as this.

**If you like my work, consider buying me a coffee at www.ko-fi.com/flyslipcricket