USA hoping to host T20 World in future
Image : Collected
|| Desk Report ||
The United States of America (USA) Cricket has expressed their desire to host ICC T20 World Cup in future after their success in hosting FIFA World Cup.
The USA successfully hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994 when football was not even popular in their country compared to baseball, American football and basketball. Even then a record of 3.5 million people watched the matches from the stands.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has also been interested in popularizing cricket in the USA to catch its big market for which they have been working for the development of its cricket in America for so long. Even they give international matches in American soil, where Bangladesh played two T20 international matches against West Indies in 2018.
“If you played in the USA, every venue would be sold out,” said USA Cricket chief executive Iain Higgins.
“Other sports have used their major events as catalysts for growth in non-traditional markets,” Higgins told the media.
The USA got their ODI status and defeated Scotland in December, in the difference of just 10 months after being stepped into international cricket in 2019.
Higgins said that one of the main objectives is to gain Test status within the next decade for the US.
“It’s our objective to have a team that’s competing with full members of the ICC in the short term, and it’s our objective to become a full member of the ICC in the next 10 years,” he said.
“On-field performance, as we saw with Ireland and Afghanistan, is going to be a real critical part of the assessment as to whether we’re ready to play a role at that level,” he added.
Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, has hosted six ODIs and 10 Twenty20s, and is scheduled to stage two T20s between West Indies and South Africa in August. Even India has played against West Indies in Florida to a sell-out crowd.
Higgins feels that they are capable of cricket’s big-ticket event and it would be fruitful for ICC in every inch.
“One would be to persuade the ICC to be brave enough to bring a T20 World Cup to the USA. I am confident that we will have great quality venues that are capable of scaling up and scaling down for ICC events,” the chief executive said.
“The plan is to have at least six venues in this country that are capable of hosting international matches. When you look at the number of travelling fans from the US to the last two World Cups, it shows an enormous appetite for cricket,” he added.
“Imagine India playing Pakistan in a T20 World Cup in the US - you could not build a venue big enough. When we eventually get to present to the ICC, they will be pleased and we will be able to be satisfied that they should be ready to entrust us with one of their significant world events,” he concluded.
