USA Cricketer : Sri Lanka cricket

USA Cricket: Mumtaz Yusuf to coach USA U-18 team in Florida

openingbat — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:58:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Former Sri Lanka and Malaysia national team coach Mumtaz Yusuf will coach the USA U-18 team next week in Florida at the ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp against Canada and Bermuda. Yusuf has been living in the USA since 1999 and is a Level Three qualified coach who currently works with players in Southern California. USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed confirmed the news and also said that Wesley King will serve as the Team Manager.

Yusuf says that he wants to put a greater emphasis on fielding and fitness with this group to help get them ready for next year’s ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament when USA will look to qualify for the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup in the UAE. Yusuf believes USA should have finished in the top six in Ireland at last year’s ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier and doesn’t want to let this current group of players fail to qualify for the next global event in two years’ time.

“In my coaching where I have succeeded in Sri Lanka and Malaysia, the side has to be fit and has to be a very good fielding side,” Yusuf said. “I would always give the edge to a fielder slightly over his batting and bowling. Especially in Florida with humid conditions, if you are not fit and you are not a good fielder, that’s going to be a minus point for us.”

Yusuf coached Sri Lanka and was a national selector from 1989-1992. He then coached Malaysia beginning at the 1994 ICC Trophy in Kenya continuing through the 1997 ICC Trophy in Malaysia and finally concluded his five-year stint with them in 1999 before moving to America.

Image (left) - Mumtaz Yusuf [Credit: USYCA]

He has been actively involved in coaching players in Southern California for the last decade and most recently coached the South West Region U-15 squad in Connecticut last year at the USACA U-15 National Tournament. Yusuf said that one player from that event who caught his eye and who he is looking forward to coach is Randall Wilson from the New York Region. Yusuf is also eager to work with USA U-18 captain Steven Taylor, who has already represented the senior side at multiple tournaments.

“I witnessed the U-15 final against Northern California last year and I was very impressed with Randall Wilson,” Yusuf said. “Not only Randall Wilson, I think we have a very talented bunch of players. I have been very impressed with Steven Taylor. I think working with that young kid will be a great pleasure to me because it will be the first time I will be working with Steven Taylor though I know his capabilities and his caliber and mental approach.”

Building up towards preparing a team for next year’s ICC Americas U-19 Division One qualifier, Yusuf is recommending that USACA should also select a shadow squad of players to keep the competition level amongst the current squad high so that players stay hungry and work hard to stay in the team.

“Once this tournament is over, I would recommend that apart from these 14 core players, we need to pick another team of 14 players who have missed out on selection,” Yusuf said. “We cannot allow players to be complacent and let them think they have been picked for this so [next time they have] 100% chance of being selected because when that happens you don’t want to try hard. You need to have someone breathing down your neck. Only then you’ll want to keep yourself sharp. After this tournament is over, pick another 14 players and play some games to keep players on their toes.”

USA’s squad arrives in Florida on Friday and will have three days of training before their first match on Tuesday at the Central Broward Regional Park. USA will play a total of four round-robin 50-over matches against Canada U-18 and Bermuda U-18 next week.

WICB announces ticket prices for pair of T20I matches against New Zealand in Florida

openingbat — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:35:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

The West Indies Cricket Board has announced ticket prices for the two Twenty20 International matches to be played against New Zealand on June 30 and July 1 in Florida. Reserved chairback seats at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill will cost $30 while general admission tickets to sit or stand on the grass embankment will cost $20.

The prices are in similar range to the cost of tickets for the pair of Twenty20 matches two years ago at the same venue between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The prices at that event, The Pearls Cup, were $35 for reserved and $22 for general admission for the first match which took place on a Saturday while Sunday ticket prices were $27 for reserved and $17 for general admission. A total combined attendance figure of 8,600 across two days wound up being the turnout.

Image (right) - The Central Broward Regional Park stadium in Lauderhill, Florida, is the venue which will host two Twenty20 Internationals between New Zealand and the West Indies on June 30 and July 1.

The WICB release stated that tickets will go on sale two weeks prior to the first match at each venue for the New Zealand tour. In addition to the two Twenty20s in Florida, New Zealand and the West Indies are scheduled to play five ODIs beginning on July 5 – two in Jamaica and three in St. Kitts – followed by two Test matches. The first Test will be in Antigua from July 25-29 before returning to Jamaica for the second from August 2-6.

USA Cricket: Mishra aims to cultivate winning & welcoming culture in squad

openingbat — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:10:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

A little less than two years ago, several thousand cricket fans descended upon Fort Lauderdale to watch what was billed as a landmark event in US cricket: The Pearls Cup. Most people remember the occasion for the two Twenty20 matches played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, matches that were shown in America on ESPN3 and broadcast around the world on ESPN Star.

Aditya Mishra remembers the weekend a little differently. Compared to the attention given to Sri Lanka and New Zealand, USA was practically invisible as they played in front of several hundred people that same weekend at the Central Broward Regional Park stadium with no television audience for their set of three matches against Jamaica. Perhaps no person in USA’s squad felt more invisible that weekend than Mishra.

Sushil Nadkarni and Rashard Marshall were due to tour with USA a week later for the team’s trip to the ICC Americas Division One tournament in Bermuda, but both players had to withdraw from the Florida leg because they couldn’t get enough time off work. That opened the door for Mishra and Clain Williams to be added to the squad at short notice. But when Mishra showed up to join the team in Fort Lauderdale, he hardly felt like he was part of the group.

“When they were distributing clothes, I was patiently waiting for my turn to get my US clothes. I take a lot of pride in doing that, playing for USA,” Mishra told DreamCricket in an interview ahead of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier which starts March 13 in the UAE. “I didn’t get anything. The trousers which they gave me didn’t even have a US logo. It was as if they forgot to bring clothes for me. They got clothes for the people who were selected for Bermuda. They had an extra trouser with no logo which they gave me. The shirt they gave me didn’t have my name and I had to put my number using white tape. Then I started picking the US practice shorts. They said, ‘Everybody pick one.’ I went to pick and somebody held me back and said, ‘That’s not for you.’”

“That was it. In all these years I’ve scored runs and not scored runs, but I’ve never been treated like that on a cricket field or outside. It was unbelievable that I felt that. I felt insulted as a player. That is one thing which I will never forget. That keeps me going.”

Image (right) - Aditya Mishra file photo. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

Mishra scored 18 runs in two innings that weekend against Jamaica, but it was the locker room slights from senior players that stung much more.

“There were some incidents that were not very good,” said Aditya Thyagarajan, who was Mishra’s roommate on the team that weekend in Fort Lauderdale. “He was disappointed obviously in the evening that he’s not being treated with respect. He’s a former first-class player having played Ranji Trophy in India. All I told him was just use this as motivation. Sushil and myself did that. We felt we were also left out of the US team for at least one or two years prior to making an entry. I just said when you get a chance, make sure you do really well. I think he took it positively. He went and got a trainer, started working hard and got into the US team purely on merit.”

At the end of that weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Mishra came back to New Jersey determined to work hard on his game so that nobody could ignore him in the future. It paid off when he turned in a brilliant performance for the Atlantic Region, scoring 87 off 49 balls against Steve Massiah’s New York squad at the 2011 USACA Twenty20 Nationals last June in Newark to force his way back into the USA squad the following month.

The Central Broward Regional Park stadium was mostly empty for the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament in July, but Mishra was no longer invisible. He finished third on the team with 98 runs in four innings at an average of 32.66. Another confident showing in January’s USACA selection camp saw him named the vice-captain for the USA squad currently touring in the UAE in an attempt to qualify for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

Mishra’s journey began in New Delhi, where he was born and raised on a steady diet of cricket. He played his junior cricket in Uttar Pradesh and was coached by Manu Kumar in the town of Meerut, the home of numerous cricket bat factories.

“My father was a first-class player,” said Mishra. “My uncle was captain of a university team. So cricket was always in the family and that’s the game I’ve always played. I remember as a child I never played with any toys. The first thing I had when I could walk was a cricket bat, a plastic cricket bat.”

When it was time to go to university, Mishra weighed his options and narrowed them down to programs in Mumbai and Bangalore. He wanted to go to a good engineering university but also a place with good cricket.

“In the end I chose Bangalore for weather, I think people are a little bit more milder and it’s a bit more fair than certain parts of India in terms of politics,” said Mishra. “I thought that I’d stand a better chance if I played cricket with good people.”

Mishra played league cricket and captained his university side, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology. He eventually caught the eyes of the Karnataka selectors and was brought into the state’s U-22 and U-25 teams, allowing him to train with and learn from players like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad. He eventually made his debut with the senior side in 2002 at the age of 20. However, he got caught up thinking about his future, specifically whether or not the quality of life for a state cricketer was something he wanted to accept if he never made it to the national team.

“At that time there was no IPL. We didn’t used to get paid that much playing Ranji Trophy,” said Mishra. “I saw a lot of players who were playing Ranji Trophy for x number of years and who didn’t play for India. They would probably end up with one scooter and a one bedroom house with a very low salary.”

“Sadly, my engineering finished after my first year of Karnataka Ranji Trophy and in the end, everybody needs to get a job. Then came the sad part of leaving cricket because I got a job in Samsung which was in Delhi, got transferred officially from Karnataka Cricket Association to Delhi Cricket Association to play Ranji Trophy for Delhi. However, my company sent me to South Korea and that was the end of cricket for me.”

After spending two years going back and forth from Delhi to South Korea working as a business analyst, Mishra decided to move to the USA in August 2004. He wanted to pursue his MBA at George Washington University but also came to America to reconnect with his college sweetheart Smriti. He knew cricket was played around the Washington, D.C., area, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

“For me, I’m the kind of person who will go all out or won’t do it, especially with cricket,” said Mishra. “To keep going back and forth would always remind me of those memories, which I didn’t want to remember. Cricket never crossed my mind. I had a break up with cricket. It was always my first love. It will remain my first love. It hit me pretty bad that I had to leave cricket so I just completely left it. I didn’t want to play anymore.”

“Those were tough times for me. I distanced myself from any cricket player from Karnataka. Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble, even Robin Uthappa who took my place in the Karnataka team as an opener. I never spoke with anybody in Bangalore. I distanced myself, which is pretty bizarre now that I think about it and pretty immature but I was very young and I was not happy that I had to leave cricket, something which I always thought defines me. It’s a part of my life. I had to find ways to live with it and one of the ways was to go into complete withdrawal.”

He had friends in Washington, D.C. who knew about his time playing for Karnataka and they tried to cajole him into coming out to play. He finally agreed to show up and was a bit stunned at what he saw when he did.

“I went to the ground, I saw them play and it was very different,” said Mishra. “People were smoking on the ground, something which is unheard of. I saw people drinking beer on the boundary lines, people fighting. There was thick grass, no turf wicket and at that time it was a shock for me. All those were big no-nos for me at cricket.”

He showed up a few more times, but wasn’t terribly interested in coming back. It wasn’t until 2008 when he moved to New Jersey that he considered attempting to play on a regular basis in club cricket. He wasn’t interested in the politics that tend to interfere with the experience even at club level and so Smriti set about doing the investigating for him, trying to find a club where he would feel comfortable.

“I used to live near a cricket ground,” said Mishra. “Me and my fiancée at that point, now my wife, we would drive past a cricket ground. I would stop my car and watch cricket. She’d seen me in school and she’d seen me play and she’d seen me live that life. She could see in my eyes that I loved the sport.”

“She forced me. Somehow she convinced me to join a club, but when I looked around, she did all the research for me for which club I should join. Either the club was a totally Pakistan club or a totally Indian club or a Gujarati club. I didn’t want to play cricket like that where people are regionalized or by country or by region in India and that’s how they play. I’m not that kind of a person and it was a big no-no for me. Suddenly a team’s name popped up named Gymkhana. It had a good mix. When I read the names it had Muslims from India, Muslims from Pakistan, people from all over India, north India, south India.”

Once he had overcome the hurdle of getting back to cricket on a regular basis, Mishra’s next task was to find a way to get past the frustration many cricketers in the USA face on a regular basis: finding a way to not compromise one’s technique in spite of the conditions at the grounds.

“Things were a little bit difficult because I was not really into the game mentally and I was always fighting the conditions,” said Mishra. “Wickets are not good, grounds are not good. If you play in the Chinnaswamy Stadium, you don’t play in the air. Here if you play along the ground, you will not even get one run because the grass is so thick.”

He wasn’t playing with any sort of vision in mind to get into the USA squad, but things started to change in 2009. He was having a good club season with Gymkhana CC in the Cricket League of New Jersey and was picked to play for the Atlantic Region for the first time at the USACA Eastern Conference Tournament in Washington, D.C.

“I think one person who basically pushed me into this competitive thing is Aditya Thyagarajan,” said Mishra. Both players had come through the Karnataka system just a few years apart and had once played against each other in university level cricket. “He knew what I’m capable of. He thought there was an opportunity and he kept pushing. He’s a very good friend of mine and he said, ‘You can do it.’ It’s different when somebody else tells you you can do it and it’s different when you feel you have to do it.”

“It’s like a Harvard University culture. If you are from Harvard you must be good. If I am from Harvard I know that the other guy will be good. So I think Aditya knew what it takes to represent Karnataka. He knew you can’t represent that Ranji Trophy team if you’re not good. So he knew that I’ve gone through the grind of playing against top people and performing against top opposition and he just wanted to reignite that thing. He thought it would help US cricket if I can motivate myself to play competitive cricket.”

However, Mishra’s entry into the national team was a short and rocky one. After that initial experience in 2010, he wanted to establish a new level of commitment. He called up his coach in India, Manu Kumar, and tried to map out a strategy to show the cricket community in America that he belonged in the national team. One part of the plan was to work on his fitness with the help of a personal trainer.

Image (right) - Mishra tees off against New York at the 2011 USACA Twenty20 Nationals in Newark, New Jersey. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

“That’s one thing which I can take advantage of being in America,” said Mishra. “People here may not know cricket, but… there has to be a reason why Americans do so well in the Olympics. At least the fitness part, I can go to the best trainer and they can take care of it. I can take care of my cricket. My wife was away for one year. She was doing her post doctoral work in Vancouver. So I thought that rather than going out in the evenings with friends and getting drunk, that’s probably not the best thing to do, I can focus after work on fitness and playing cricket. So that’s how I channeled my free time.”

Mishra made good use of that free time to not just get back in the USA squad, but assume a leadership position as vice-captain. Mishra’s day job is now in San Francisco as a Manager of Advisory Services with Ernst & Young. His consultancy skills have already come in handy as he’s tried to map out ways with the new USA captain Nadkarni to not just develop strategies against opponents, but create a new, more positive team culture. With so many new players coming into the team for this month’s tour to the UAE, Mishra says he doesn’t want anyone to have to deal with the same things he went through in 2010.

“It was a good learning experience how the US team functioned then,” said Mishra. “Now that I’ve been put in a role, I’m trying my very best to make sure those things never happen again. One thing we’re trying to address is team bonding. I think there was a lot of groupism in the team and we’re trying to cut across that.”

Nadkarni says that Mishra’s experience across all levels of cricket will be of tremendous value to the team and is looking forward to working with him in a leadership capacity on tour.

“With Aditya, we are pretty good friends off the field as well and I was very happy for him when the selectors selected him as the vice-captain of the team because he does have very good experience,” said Nadkarni. “He’s played first class cricket in India and he reads the game really well as well. He is a very stylish batsman.”

Mishra is arguably USA’s best player of spin bowling, confident in using his feet to come down the wicket to negate turn. On the slow tracks that will be used at the tournament, his form will be vital in determining USA’s fortunes. He’s keen to be a leader for the team both at the crease and in the locker room.

“It’s an honor to be in a leadership position for the US national team,” said Mishra. “I just want to thank everyone who has been involved to give me this opportunity.”

“He is very motivated for the tournament,” said Nadkarni. “He’s been working extra hard on his fitness like the rest of us. If he gets going and has a great tournament, I think that will really really boost our chances.”

2010 Pearls Cricket Cup: New Zealand and Sri Lanka share honors, leave US with praise and advice

gchakravarthy — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:46:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Gokul Chakravarthy

A lot has been said and written about the two-match Twenty20 International series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka and its effectiveness as an “advertisement for cricket in the USA”.

The thing about advertisements is that there needs to be a product first that can be sold and there needs to be a market to sell that product to. This weekend was a first step in announcing that product – “[World-class] Cricket in America”. Where many previous cricket boards, individual entrepreneurs and business conglomerates have had little success, the current bunch of people behind the Pearls Cup have been able to give that product an initial shape and feel their market.

Photo (left): The jumbotron announcing the match, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

This product, no doubt, requires a lot of shaping and evolving. After all, the very first iPod looks almost unusable by today’s standards. But there is no doubt that the product itself has its merits and it has its market.

In fact, it is only now that advertisements should be worked on as the product itself evolves. New Zealand’s leader, Daniel Vettori agreed, saying “It [The Pearls Cup] has certainly given USA cricket a profile and I think that’s the biggest thing to come from that.”

As matters unfolded in the second of these two matches, New Zealand had “assessed the conditions and adapted to those pretty well" the previous day as Sri Lanka’s captain Kumar Sangakkara himself put it.

Sri Lanka might have been a day behind on that learning curve, but by the time the last of the 2-match T20 series ended, they had leapfrogged New Zealand. A magic over from Nuwan Kulasekara, where he took 3 top-order Kiwi wickets, and tentative batting from New Zealand led to the Pearls Trophy being shared by the two teams.

While the Man of the Match choice was obvious, Daniel Vettori’s name on the Man of the Series award must have been a nuanced choice. He had indeed batted with an alarming fluency over the weekend, not the type that we are used to seeing from a Sangakkara or a Mahela Jayawardena, but in his own ‘not pretty, but effective’ kind of way.

“I think my game is [that] I can play spin and in these sort of conditions you’re going to face a lot of spin bowlers and lot of medium pace bowlers. Over the last few years, I’ve tried to develop that style of my game. So I just have a comfort level and a confidence in those sorts of conditions,” he was to explain it later.

As captain, for a second day in a row, he had not hesitated to bat first. But the difference this time was that Sri Lanka had picked Kulasekara to be the #2 bowler with the usual suspect for #1, Angelo Matthews. This was to end up being THE difference between the two teams. Sangakkara opined that “This is the type of wicket that assists Kulasekara very well. It is low and had a bit of zip in the morning, not pace, but just a bit of movement that he exploited very well. [We are] pretty grateful to him for giving us that start that allowed us to apply the pressure.”

Photo (right): Nuwan Kulasekara celebrating (left in the background) celebrating the last New Zealand wicket with Sanatha Jayasuriya, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

The only other person Kulasekara needed assistance from was the umpire. He opened that over by hiting Aaron Redmond’s (1) leg before the wicket. He finished it with a double-strik; first bowling Brendon McCullum(1) to a gem that just swung out, leaving McCullum playing for his customary in-swinger and missing and then, in the last ball of the over, removing RJ Nicol (0) who was also adjudged LBW by umpire Ian Gould.

Their skipper, who further promoted himself bravely up the order to #5 in this match, said of all this mayhem, “Kulasekara, in particular, bowled straight and probably did enough with it and he got wickets with really good balls. As a batting unit, sometimes you just have to accept that the bowling unit is on top. When we were 3 for 4 wickets and 13 for 5, it was always going to be difficult to come back from then and post a competitive total.”

And difficult it was. If New Zealand had scrapped their way to 120 the previous day, they crawled to 81 in this match, thanks largely to fighting scores from Vettori (27 from 24 balls) and Nathan McCullum (36 from 39 balls), the hero with the bat of their nail-biting WT20 victory over Sri Lanka. When Vettori was adjudged caught behind to a ball that he missed and hit the ground instead, one could hear the last gasp from the dying New Zealand innings.

A defeat for Sri Lanka chasing 81 was not improbable - they had imploded to 96 in their chase of 120 earlier.

Mahela’s fluency returned in the first 3 overs and he scored 17 out of Sri Lanka’s 18/0. There were boundaries and even a 6 with ‘Mahela” written all over it. That shoved Vettori and his wards’ already faint possibility of winning into the realms of impossibility. When Mahela got out and Thissara Perera walked in and waltzed his way to a couple of meaty blows himself, all Vettori could expect to save was face. Perera was particularly severe on Tim Southee whom he took for 15 runs in one over.

The demons that seem to have taunted the Kiwis were absent when Sri Lanka batted. None of their bowlers really troubled the Lankans as they shared the honors with an easy win in the end. It had been expected that the series would be a contest among equals and it ended with a result that fit the bill, 1-1.

Photo (left): Tillakaratne Dilshan swatting a ball as Daniel Vettori looks on, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

An announcement was made, at the end of the match, of a completely out-of-the-left-field “Super Over” type of tie-breaker to decide the winner of the Trophy. But just as the assemble crowd started salivating at the prospect of seeing some big hits, the organizers apologizes and reneged.

For those familiar with and facing on a daily basis the various factors that have been holding US cricket back, May 22nd and May 23rd of 2010 shall be a symbolic victory. They will feel a combination of release and relief. A relief that they no longer require to engage in a leap of faith to believe that world-class cricket can belong within these United States.

How long that sense of relief shall last now depends on the ones that are entrusted with directing the momentum from this event into a meaningful direction. They had some good advice from Vettori and Sangakkara.

Vettori:
“I think they [the US cricket team] need to get some games together because they are spread so far and wide and then they disappear for a month and don’t see each other and don’t see the coaches. If they are able to get together more as a team and be coached more, it’s going to be a real positive step for them moving forward.

Sangakkara:
The final vindication of cricket in any country is that the country owns it. They feel that they are an intrinsic part of it. They have that pride in and that feeling of “this is my team these is my players who are walking out playing for us”. So, it’s very important to make sure that more cricket is played and to make sure that the rules, the intricacies, the strategy: it’s all made an awareness program that spreads the word of cricket right throughout the US. Those are the things that really matter at the end.

Post Match Interview with New Zealand players, 2nd T20, Pearls Cup, New Zealand v Sri Lanka from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Post Match Interview with Sri Lankan players, 2nd T20, Pearls Cup, New Zealand v Sri Lanka from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

2010 Pearls Cricket Cup: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka - New Zealand scrap to victory in front of swooning fans

gchakravarthy — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:10:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Gokul Chakravarthy

Match Scorecard

The very first official international match in the USA opened with a lot of fanfare and "fan fare". The crowd had been building up all through the morning, even as the USA played against Jamaica in the 1st T20 of the day at the Central Broward Regional Park.

The colorful Sri Lankan fans grossly outnumbered the Kiwi supporters. In fact, one friend pointed out how there were more Indian supporters than New Zealand supporters in the ground. But that didn’t deter a trio of the loyal “beige brigade” from showing up in their unmistakable gear in support of Daniel Vettori and his men. Nor did it deter the New Zealand cricketers themselves in playing to their best.

Photo (left): Sri Lanka and New Zealand pose in front of the Pearls Cup, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

Vettori was to say later that “Leading up to it, there was a little bit of that exhibition feel, once both teams got on to the park, there was a real desire to win and to pick up, I suppose, from where we left off in the WT20. We wanted to finish a long season on a high note and to win a game here would do that.”

Daniel Vettori didn’t have any hesitation in choosing to bat first. The thought of chasing any score on a slow pitch against the Sri Lankan slow bowlers must have been a huge, if not the only, reason for this choice.

Brendon McCullum and Aaron Redmond opened the batting for them. McCullum hit some lovely stroked to the boundary, one even going over the boundary prompting the PA announcer at the stadium to ecstatically acknowledge that it was the “first international six on US soil”.

Photo (right): New Zealand fans cheer their team at Lauderhill, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

But that sort of hitting was not going to be possible on a consistent basis on this pitch. Most of the other New Zealand batsman found that out the hard way. Angelo Matthews took a blinder to get rid of him in the 4th over with the score on 25.

Sri Lanka’s fielding and bowling was quite intense and Ross Taylor narrowly escaped a run out appeal against him soon after he got in. A free stroke-player like him couldn’t survive too much longer in any case, especially when he felt he had to resort to quick and risky 1s and 2s. His eventual score of 27 from 30 balls was a great indication of that. The Lankans didn’t miss the second time when Nuwan Kulasekara and wicket-keeper, Kumar Sangakkara colluded to run him out. He had walked even before the 3rd umpire could pass his verdict.

It wasn’t until Vettori himself marched in, at the fall of the 4th wicket of Scott Styris. He had pushed himself up the order above Martin Guptill. He started a little bit of the recovery act, more so in terms of the run-rate, than anything else. His ability with the bat has often spared New Zealand’s top order severe embarrassment and, in some cases, even won them matches. When asked about how he had gone about constructing his innings, “Straightaway, I thought 120. We weren’t sure it would be enough, but we knew it would be competitive. But we kept losing wickets and so it made it difficult and it was hard to hit from this [The Pavilion] end because of the wind and the boundaries. So we were set to scrap for everything and in the end 120 was enough today.”

Even though Scott Styris and Martin Guptill didn’t score too many runs themselves, their respective stays at the crease with Taylor and Vettori respectively played a big role in their team reaching that score.

Photo (left): Daniel Vettori walking back after giving his team something to defend, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

For Sri Lanka, their fielding and catching, was quite a highlight. Their bowlers just had to avoid offering full-length deliveries or pace that the New Zealand batsmen could use to score boundaries. Led by Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis, they did that quite effectively.

In defense of his 120, Vettori opened his attack with pace on both ends – Kyle Mills from the Pavilion End and newcomer Andy McKay, who the coach and captain had spoken of quite highly in the lead-up to this series, from the other end. This meant that his tendency to open with Nathan McCullum, which would have fit this pitch like a glove, had to be quelled and the batsmen would get enough pace from the deliveries to play their strokes – a luxury Sri Lanka didn’t bestow upon their own batsmen.

Mahela Jayawardena’s initial WT20 form had given way to 3 poor scores in his last 3 matches at that tournament. His vicissitudes wouldn’t let go in this match as he edged the 2nd ball of his and his team’s innings to leave the field for a disappointing duck. Tillakaratne Dilshan used it to good effect, though. He played some aggressive shots, along with regular one-down, Sangakkara. But much like Taylor, he found out that on this pitch he was not going to be able to play his own game. But unlike Taylor, he refused to try and adapt. Kyle Mills’ subtle change of pace, beat his defenses and brought his wicket down.

Andy McKay was replaced by Tim Southee and Mills by Nathan McCullum. After just 1 over of Southee, Vettori brought himself on from the Makeshift-TV-tower end.

The pair of Sangakkara and Angelo Matthews was the only one that gave Sri Lanka any hope of a win. Matthews extended his streak with the bat beyond the WT20 and top-scored for Sri Lanka. Even though the scorecard would reveal that he had done almost exactly what Taylor had done for his team, what it conceals is his much more fluent stay at the crease. He, along with Sangakkara, was the only batsman that was able to time the ball consistently on the surface on offer.

Photo (right): Mahela Jayawardena walks back after the 2nd ball, even as the jumbotron replays his dismissal, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

Scott Styris came and plugged the scoring so much that even the well-set Angelo Matthews, who had taken Nathan McCullum out of the attack, could not hit him clean. He holed out to a safe Jacob Oram at long on, who was on for most of the innings for Martin Guptill.

Whereas New Zealand had the services of Vettori at the bottom of their order, Sri Lanka had no such resistance from theirs and capitulated to a mare 92 on the penultimate delivery of their innings.

“On this track, we should have been a bit smarter the way in which we batter. We had severe setbacks in the first 6 and right through the middle overs. We got to make sure tomorrow we’ve got a different batting plan, individually,” is how Sangakkara was to sum up his team’s woes on the day.

It is all too natural and simplistic to bash a sluggish pitch like the one at Lauderhill when not too many runs are scored, but for the 1000s of fans who showed up and witnessed this match firsthand, the type of fielding and bowling skills both New Zealand and Sri Lanka had brought to the match was a spectacle in itself. People were loudly cheering diving stops, slides a foot inside the boundary rope, diving catches, lightning-fast reflexes of the bowlers when the ball was hit back to them. These were aspects of the sport most on the US soil had never seen before up close.

One such ardent fan from Austin, Texas, Michael Gale, who also happens to be the Chairman of an Intercity Cricket Tournament in that state, felt that “US cricket has finally woken from a slumber, stretched its limbs and joined the real world of international cricket. There are individuals and entrepreneurs in the US that will start to wake up and start investing. We should see events like this as the norm going forward and not exception. I hope we can all support in a positive way to our [collective] future.”

These sentiments were echoed by many in the stands who didn’t hold back in expressing their joy.

Photo (left): Fans having great fun at the Central Broward Regional Park, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com

The players themselves couldn’t overlook this. “There were obviously a lot of Sri Lankan fans here. So it had that subcontinent feel. The crowd was entertained and the entertainment off the field was great for the game. And whilst it wasn’t as high-scoring a game as people might have wanted, it was still quite a thrilling game, as lower-scoring ones can be,” said Vettori.

“It was nice to see so many Sri Lankans here. They had flown down from a lot of places here in the States. Sri Lankans have a lot of fun when they come to watch cricket games and today was no different. We can hopefully see a better performance from them.”

Cricket-spoilt international fans and 'experts' may gripe about the pitch and the conditions but to the US cricket fans, who should have the last say on the matter, international cricket has well and truly arrived in their backyard and they can't wait to get a lot more of it.

USA messes up the chase in first T20 against Jamaica in Florida

openingbat — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:52:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Gokul Chakravarthy

Match Scorecard

The Twenty20 festival had well and truly begun when USA won toss and asked the Jamaican men in yellow to bat first at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida on a bright Saturday morning.

Photo (left): Man of the Match and ex-West Indian international, Marlon Samuels sizing up a delivery from Steve Massiah, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

Lennox Cush opening the bowling for USA from the Pavilion End indicated a bit more of a ‘winning’ gameplan as opposed to that of gauging new players’ abilities in match situations, which was the case in the previous match. Cush went for 7 in the 1st over but showed why he was in his captain’s plans. Bilal Khan had his captain’s faith as well and kept it, opening from the “TV-tower End”.

The scoreboards, announcements and other organizational aspects around the match were also much more up to snuff from the word “go” during this match. Much like the US team’s game plan for the 50-over match on Friday, the organizers got a chance to test things out and iron out the kinks for the weekend.

USA came into the match with 4 significant changes: 16-year-old Steven Taylor, Lennox Cush, Timroy Allen and Aditya Mishra came in for Clain Williams, Moazzam Imtiaz, Muhammed Ghous and Andy Mohammad.

Yesterday’s hero Pagon stayed yesterday’s news as he went for a breezy 13. He was caught expertly at point by Mishra who had to go down low and hold the briskly slashed ball from Pagon inches off the ground. He made the catch look so ho-hum that the crowd couldn’t be blamed for thinking it was a dot ball. Cush had his first and only victim of the match.

When West Indies internationals Samuels and Hinds got together and Stanford T20 star for Guyana Cush was bowling to them, it was one of the 1st all-star matchups of the day.

At 33/1 in 6 overs, USA’s opening bowlers had done the job for their skipper by restricting the vastly experienced and skillful pair of Samuels and Hinds to a below-par T20 score coming out of the powerplay.

This start was made possible by Cush’s unwieldy brand of spin, where he jumps up to the crease and plops the ball down at almost the same point on the pitch most of the time. It is the trajectory and pace at which the ball travels to that point and hence from that point to the batsman that kept changing and ended up tying the batsmen down to just 1s and 2s, at the most.

Khan bowled a consistent line and length as well and that was his undoing as well. When in the 8th over, Wavell Hinds faced him, Khan couldn’t quite alter that line to suit the left-hander, resulting in a few wide balls in that over. Nevertheless, 43/1 in 8 overs would still count as a job well done, although it wasn’t without a fair contribution from the pitch itself.

Knowing this, Steve Massiah replaced Cush with Timroy Allen and Khan with himself. Allen’s bowling style is of the ‘moderate’ variety to Muhammed Ghous’ orthodox and Cush/ Massiah’s experimental. Allen had the Hinds and Samuels in a bit of a quandary about whether or not to take him on from his very first delivery. That indecisiveness spilled into their running and Hinds was all but gone, having backed up a long way from his nonstriker’s end and being sent back by Samuels. Massiah would not accept the generous offer. His fumble at midwicket allowed the batsman to scamper back to his ground.

At 72/1 after 12 overs, Masshaih felt comfortable enough to bring back a bit of pace into the proceedings and he was right. This was not to haunt him and his team for too long as, in the 13th over, Orlando Baker’s 1st, trying to break free from the shackles of the spin twins from both ends that had kept the a check on the scoring, Hinds spooned up an easy catch to Adrian Gordon at long off.

Massiah bowled through his overs without much damage in terms of boundaries, but the runs were being accumulated at more than a run-a-ball. Baker’s 2nd over changed that. A belligerent Danza Hyatt took deflated Baker’s dough with 2 fours and a six in that over, making the overall tally a massive 16 runs, the innings’ most fruitful.

Photo (right): West Indian international, Wavell Hinds, stroking it "Windies-style", Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

Samuels also came to the party in the last 4 overs and the duo put on close to 50 runs in that time, helped along generously by Gordon’s juicy offerings at too full or too short a length, negating the difficulties in the pitch and allowing Hyatt and Samuels to free their arms as they saw ‘hit’.

A wicket in the last ball of the innings must have helped USA go into the dressing room with their morale curve on an upward slope. 145/3 was going to be a tough score to chase on this sluggish pitch and with enough spinners and slow bowlers of his own, Tamar Lambert of Jamaica must have felt confident enough of beating the USA in their chase.

Lambert didn’t change his tactics with the ball at the top of the innings from the 50-over version. Andrew Richardson’s 2-for-28 from 6.5 overs and the best bowler on show the day before, Krishmar Santokie with returns of 3-for-11 from his 7 overs, were good enough to open the attack for him.

Massiah, on the other hand, moved Baker down in his batting order to make way for Mishra while keeping Carl Wright where he was the previous day.

One pair did not disappoint its captain while the other one did.

A maiden over from Richardson to the struggling Wright was followed up by a 2-run over from Santokie from the Makeshift-TV-tower End. Carl Wright’s tentative loft was almost caught by the mid off fielder. When he got back on strike later that over, he decided enough was enough and got well under a ball from the giant of a man, Richardson and lofted it into ‘no man’s land’ over covers for a lazily run 2. These are the finer aspects of the sport that upcoming teams such as USA would do well to grasp and do well in. It is often said that the shorter versions help in leveling the playing field between opposing teams that might otherwise have a wider gap in talent. Running between the wickets and fielding are aspects that can leverage such shorter versions to bridge that gap. What would have certainly been 3 runs for Test playing batsmen was reduced to a mere 2 by the USA openers.

They rectified that once or twice in the later overs from Santokie. Bevon Brown replaced Santokie and struck in his very first over when a hard-hit shot from Wright was snapped up by the quick reflexes of Samuels. Samuels then came on to replace Richardson and got a wicket all by himself soon thereafter. Mishra played all over one from him and was bowled for 10.

Lennox Cush, the vice-captain, joined Massiah at the fall of Mishra’s wicket and didn’t last long either as Brown caught his loft gone wrong, as a top-edge popped the ball way up over the pitch. A steady Brown set himself under the ball, waited for it for what seemed like eternity, and took the catch after its tantalizing aerial stay. What was more entertaining was his celebration after taking that catch. He moved backwards in short, Michael-Jackson-moonwalk-style, jerks keeping pace with Cush alongside him as he was walking back to the pavilion. This even brought a wry smile on Cush’ face.

But Massiah was not smiling as he and Aditya Thyagarajan got together – the former latter was given a clean chit by the coach, Imran Khan, the previous day while the former was considered to be still out of form. Aditya couildn’t repeat his batting display from the previous day as he fell for a meager 2.

Massiah struggled as he shifted between extreme caution and extreme adventure, much to the irritation of the crowd, which was well into the 4 digits. At 67/6 in 15 overs, USA’s hopes of winning the match had crossed over into wishful levels. From that point on, all the USA team did was, as Marlon Samuels later put it after winning the Man of the Match award, “worked really hard, but the Jamaican team is a much better team and executed their plans properly.”

The only bright spots for USA were the aggressive intent and execution shown by Ashhar Mehdi and the entry to the crease of USA’s first-ever home-born and youngest cricketer, 16-year-old prodigy, Steven Taylor.

Photo (left): The only 2 bright spots for USA, Steven Taylor and Asshar Mehdi (stroking the ball), Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

Mehdi’s clean hitting was well-appreciated by all assembled, not the least of which was his own skipper Massiah. His score of 28 in 20 balls was the only thing in USA’s batting that resembled anything remotely invoking the spirit of T20 cricket. Taylor’s sedate innings came to an abrupt end when he was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by the fleet-footed and even soft-handed, Carlton Baugh who has also represented West Indies in the past. This was Baugh’s 2nd such stumping of the day, the earlier one getting rid of Baker.

USA’s innings sauntered to a mere 98/9 in 20 overs. They could just about stake their claim at having played out their overs but very little more than that. When asked about his team’s game plan, Massiah was to say “We executed our plans up until the last 2 overs, but then they took the match away from us. Taking into consideration the fact that we were batting on a pitch that had been used for 120 overs, it was more difficult to bat second. There is definitely room for improvement as we move forward. They had the luxury of having wickets intact. When you have wickets in the last 5 overs, you can go hard. But I thought today was a much improved performance [from us].”

When asked about his own batting, he added “We haven’t played in a couple of months an the guys are coming out of the winter. In T20 cricket, you’ve gotta kind of improvise and hopefully throw the bowler off their line and length. The pitch was very slow and so it was very hard. So you couldn’t really go through the line of the ball. It didn’t work today.”

Photo (right): US Cricketers starstruck by the presence of one of the cleanest hitter in cricket, Ross Taylor, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

About the crowd missing out on some entertainment due to lack of boundaries when USA batted, Massiah said “It’s unfortunate that the crowd hasn’t been able to see the best of the America talent, but it is only because we are going through a transition period.”

New Zealand and Sri Lanka cricketers eager to blaze a trail while crossing a new frontier

openingbat — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:26:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna

Growing up in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, many of the players who are currently part of their country’s national teams would have dreamed of playing cricket in all sorts of far off destinations. The Melbourne Cricket Ground, Newlands, Eden Gardens and Lord’s are just some of the grounds that players like Kumar Sangakkara and Ross Taylor would have played imaginary game after game in, scoring century after century.

Pic (Right): USACA CEO Don Lockerbie, Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori and Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan at the press conference on Thursday

However, it’s doubtful that any of these players ever thought they would one day play a competitive fixture in the United States of America. But that will be the case on Saturday when The Pearls Cup commences at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, as New Zealand and Sri Lanka create history by becoming the first ICC Full-Member nations to play an international match on American soil.

“There was a lot of talk from the ICC and various other cricket authorities trying to break into the US market and trying to introduce cricket here,” said Kumar Sangakkara, captain of Sri Lanka, on Thursday afternoon before his squad took to the stadium outfield for training. “This has been a first time experience for me. I’ve loved every minute of it. Florida’s a great place to come to and I believe play sport or just live so it’s been a great experience for everyone in the team to be a part of this.”

One of the main goals of this initiative is to bring greater awareness to the game. New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor knows it won’t happen overnight, but believes that every little bit of exposure helps and that within a few years time, positive results will be achieved from getting more people to see and learn about the game in an untapped American market that exists both within and beyond expat communities.

Pic (Left): Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara receives a gift on behalf of USACA from Ahmed Jeddy, USACA Central West Board Member

“Well I guess there’s a lot of expats here in America,” said Taylor. “There’s a lot of Indians and Pakistanis who all love and follow cricket so hopefully we can give them something that they’ve probably been missing for the whole time they’ve been here in the States. But not only that, people we talk to don’t know a lot about cricket and hopefully if we can come over here and… we don’t expect to convert millions and millions of people, but if we can get a few people to start watching cricket, you never know. In four or five years time hopefully the profile of the game is a lot better than it is at the moment.”

“We’re gonna try and put on a good show first and foremost, try and captivate some uncertain audiences at the moment, try and captivate them, try and express to them what cricket’s about and show them a game that we all fell in love with,” said New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum. “Hopefully we can get some fans who will support us from afar and who may even try and increase the numbers of people who are playing cricket here in the States. One day I envision, one day is to have cricket as big as what baseball is over here. It’s a lofty dream, but it’s gotta start somewhere so hopefully this weekend will hopefully be a long way to beginning that.”

Interview at Training with Brendon McCullum from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Aside from the cricket, the players have been acclimatizing themselves to better known American sporting pursuits. New Zealand took part in batting practice with the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium in Miami on Monday night. During training on Thursday, Taylor could be seen tossing around a pigskin football with several of his Kiwi mates. Meanwhile, McCullum hasn’t wasted any opportunities hitting the links with the amount of off time the team has had since their exit from the ICC World Twenty20.

“I’ve played about six games of golf since I’ve been here so I’ve been pretty busy on the golf course so far,” said McCullum.

One sign that cricket is acclimatizing itself to fall in line with those better known American sporting pursuits is the fact that ESPN will be broadcasting The Pearls Cup. Not only will it be aired live on the international family of ESPN networks such as ESPN Star Sports in India, but more significantly in America on broadband channel ESPN3.

“If we have ESPN covering this tournament, then obviously a lot of people will be watching this, a lot of Americans,” said Ahmed Jeddy, USACA’s Central West Regional Representative on the Board of Directors. “The local Americans, not the expat Americans but the local Americans would watch this and that can help us give them the lead that this is the sport that you need to start bringing into your mainstream so we can develop youth of America to play cricket and Twenty20 is a great platform for that.”

Interview at Training with Kumar Sangakkara from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

However, one of the major concerns of this event is whether or not it will make any money for the parties involved. Previously, New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan has said that he does not anticipate the event making a profit in its first year but was not overly concerned about it because he hopes to maintain a long term partnership with USACA. Nabeel Ahmed, USACA’s 1st Vice President, had a similar assessment on Thursday.

“I think eventually we are looking forward to make this thing a money-making thing,” said Ahmed, “but to begin with, we wanted to bring something to a US cricket community which is the international game of this caliber.”

USACA CEO Don Lockerbie remained optimistic on filling up the stadium for The Pearls Cup Twenty20 fixtures and in an interview published Thursday on blackcaps.co.nz, he stated that 5,000-8,000 people each day would be a good crowd. According to the event organizers, ticket sales have been picking up as the event has drawn nearer. It is also hoped that walk-up sales at the stadium box office by the local West Indian community on the day of the matches will help boost attendance figures.

For the people who are willing to make the effort to travel near or far to see The Pearls Cup in person, they will be part of a truly historic event, one that will hopefully be remembered for a long time. New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram is excited to be a part of the occasion.

“I’m quite happy and quite proud to be part of the first series which will hopefully be the first stepping stone in helping cricket become a bigger sport in America,” said Oram.

Pearls Cup Interview with Nabeel Ahmed from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Pearls Cup Interview with Ahmed Jeddy from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Sri Lanka Pearls Cup Press Conference with Kumar Sangakkara from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

New Zealand Pearls Cup Press Conference with Daniel Vettori from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Interview at Training with Jacob Oram from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Interview at Training with Ross Taylor from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

Interview at Training with Tillakeratne Dilshan from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

2010 Pearls Cricket Cup: Lauderhill awaits time in the sun

gchakravarthy — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:39:00 GMT

DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Please help us popularize cricket in USA by becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

By Gokul Chakravarthy

An eye opener during a trip to Trinidad for Mayor Richard J. Kaplan of the City of Lauderhill, Florida, in 2002 became a wakeup call for the then City Manager, Charles Faranda and has finally evolved into a dream-come-true for cricket in the USA.

"We are delighted to be able to host New Zealand and Sri Lanka in these historic matches," said Mayor Kaplan. "The City and County have invested resources into the Regional Park with exactly this type of event in mind."

In 2007, the world cricket map had a new pin, its first serious one, stuck on the South-eastern coast of the vast land mass that is the continental USA that teemed with immense potential. It wasn’t until the end of 2008 that the promise was fulfilled and the quintessential promise land now had an ICC-approved cricket stadium.

It has taken another 2 years, a failed attempt to bring the One Day International World Cup of 2007 to the USA, the popularity of an exciting new cricket format – Twenty20, a visionary CEO – Don Lockerbie, a historic agreement with a major Test-playing nation – New Zealand – and the support of another major Test-playing country – Sri Lanka – to bring back international cricket of the highest quality to the shores of USA.

The Central Broward County Regional Park, simply referred to as “Lauderhill” within the cricket circles in the USA, is just 2 days away from becoming the nth stadium to hold an international match in the modern cricket era.

What began in all earnest in 1844 as the first-ever international cricket match in the USA has found its rightful, if a bit delayed, culmination in this much-anticipated series between two of the best exponents of the Twenty20 format of cricket.

Keeping in line with the way a vast majority of the Caribbean cricket fans, many of whom live in and around the Lauderhill area, prefer to enjoy their cricket, plans are in the works to organize music and entertainment during and after these matches.

The weatherman had a hot and humid weekend in store for the cricket lovers and players in Lauderhill with a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms. With both the T20I matches between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, scheduled during the day, the thunderstorms shouldn’t be as big a factor as they would have had the floodlights become essential, as in a night match. And with the Twenty20 format only requiring 3½ hours from start to finish, it shouldn’t be too difficult to wait out any such storms and still have full and well-fought matches.

Much has been said and written about the potency of this format when it comes to its various compelling aspects that might just do the trick when it comes to breaking into what has been an elusive market for cricket – the USA. When the Stanford T20 was conducted so close to the USA, on the Caribbean islands, with tremendous success and the dramatic, if one-sided, Finale was televised live in HD on ESPN all across USA, a tiny spark of hope flickered, soon to be extinguished by the strong, cold winds of change that saw the Stanford empire collapse.

A new spark has been kindled and from all accounts will indeed grow into a proud flame over the coming weekend (May 21-23, 2010).

USA Cricket Announce ESPN to Broadcast Historic Cricket Series

openingbat — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:44:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

May 19, 2010

ESPN and USA Cricket Association announced today a platform to showcase exclusive, live coverage of the May 22 and 23 Twenty20 international matches between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, Florida.

The matches will be shown exclusively in the US on ESPN3.com, ESPN's live sports broadband network, giving fans a 24/7 online destination that delivers more than 3,500 live, global sports events annually to over 50 million homes.

These historic matches mark the first time two ICC members have ever played on United States soil. ESPN and partner companies ESPN International and ESS will broadcast the matches live in 88 countries and territories around the work, including the UK, Africa, India, Israel, the Middle East, the Asian Sub-Continent, and Oceania to an estimated audience of over 100 million.

USA Cricket CEO Donald Lockerbie stated that with the ESPN family of broadcast and media companies involved “the world will now see that the USA is open for business as a serious cricketing nation. We are very pleased to have arranged with ESPN a platform to broadcast the event live from our stadium in Florida - so those fans not able to attend will watch on ESPN3 in America and on televisions world wide.

"We are looking to show the world that the United States is ready for all the ICC full members to come to our country and play before their diaspora community and fans - a population of approximately 15 million hungry to see cricket played in the US.”

Televised for the first time ever in the United States, ESPN3.com has brought a powerful broadcast team together, led by 2009 ICC Cricket Hall of Fame inductee and former Australia captain, Ian Chappell. Over the course of his career Chappell created and sustained a reputation as one of the greatest captains in the history of cricket.

Joining Chappell in the broadcast booth is the legendary Sunil Gavaskar who held the world records for the most runs and most centuries (34 Test centuries) scored; Simon Doull, a former member of the New Zealand cricket team who played in 32 Test matches and 42 one-day internationals; and Mike Haysman - the former member of Leicestershire, Northern Transvaal and South Australia who represented the Australian XI in the South African rebel tours from 1985-1987.

Twenty20 is a form of cricket introduced in 2003 by the England and Wales Cricket Board. It involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 “overs.” An over is a set of six consecutive legal balls bowled in succession.

Although still an embryonic sport in the USA, cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, only behind football (soccer). With approximately 15-million cricket fans living in the USA the goal of the strategic partnership between New Zealand Cricket and USA Cricket is to generate awareness and establish a fan base and appetite for the sport.

The Central Broward Regional Park Cricket Stadium was built in 2007 and holds up to 20,000.

[From USACA and other sources]

2010 Pearls Cricket Cup Preview: A clash among equals (Part-I)

gchakravarthy — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:18:00 GMT

DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Please help us popularize cricket in USA by becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

By Gokul Chakravarthy

USACA’s ambitious, yet realistic, CEO, Don Lockerbie, had included in his blueprint for the development of US cricket, key pillars that were to connect the foundation of grassroots cricket to the lofty ceiling of the national team reaching ODI status. These pillars would be international matches hosted by the USA from time to time; serving to enthuse the existing vast expat cricket community while educating the average Americans about cricket and eventually entering their living room and backyards.

Cricket had shown signs of its presence over the past few years by an odd Seinfeld joke in an ad here or as a murder weapon in a popular TV detective series there or, for that matter when Discovery Channel’s “How it’s Made” featured cricket bats.

But as one of possibly the last bunch of popular sitcoms on a major network, “Rules of Engagement”, had an entire episode with cricket as one of its main themes, maybe cricket is beginning to get ensconced somewhere within the American psyche. When defeat in a duel of good old street cricket leads to the American lead actor in the series actually admitting to a South African Indian in as many words that “Cricket is a great sport,” it at once seems like a proud lesson in the sport and an unabashed product placement. The tagline of the recently concluded ICC WT20 2010 tournament, “Bring it”, was cleverly, if blatantly, thrust into the dialogue for good measure, making the whole thing appear a lot like a product placement. Nevertheless, the metaphor and timing of it all is not lost.

The last tango in Providence

The timing is impeccable, not only because of the aforementioned ICC WT20 (World Cup) but also because 2 of the biggest cricketing nations, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, who played in that World Cup, are now in the USA, preparing for a 2-match T20 International series against each other. As a matter of fact, the WT20 had been kicked off on April 29, 2010, with a battle between these two very teams.

And what a match it was!

The 2 teams met only once in that tournament but it was a memorable contest that set up heady expectations for the remainder of the contests. Everyone will remember Mike Hussey’s redefinition of the cameo in the Semi Final against Pakistan, but New Zealand’s tailenders had scored 22 in the last 9 balls to take them to a tense victory against Sri Lankans off the penultimate ball of the match. That was at a neutral venue as well – The Providence Stadium in Guyana.

It was also a crucial match in that the regular stars with the ball for either team, Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka and Shane Bond for New Zealand, had not really made an impact in the match. Malinga, especially with his quirky action and normally well-controlled pace variations was off target in that match and Bond was taken heavy toll of by the Lankan top order. Both teams are known for their resilience in tournaments. New Zealand have been regular Semi Finalists at various international tournaments while Sri Lanka have also made it a habit to reach the final stages of such tournaments since they first won the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1996.

Head to head

(In 2010, the only T20Is played by Sri Lanka were all during the WT20 in the West Indies)

The teams have similar resources, a similar approach to cricket and that reflects in their almost similar results. Sri Lanka might have more sparkle in their ranks, thanks to bigger stars, but that only adds to New Zealand’s skipper Daniel Vettori’s already impressive list of advantages when it comes to captaining his side and commanding their respect and demanding their best on the cricket field. Captaincy might well turn out to be the decisive factor in this duel.

To top it off, the results from the last 5 matches show that they each have the exact same form coming into this series.

A look at all the teams in T20Is shows that any of the 9 Test playing teams or Zimbabwe are likely to score 153 runs in 20 overs. This is also the the par score for all T20Is. Based on that, Sri Lanka are likely to score a par+ score of 158 while New Zealand are likely to score a just about par score of 152.

On the surface, it seems like Sri Lanka has scored more runs than New Zealand, 18-16, which also gives Sri Lanka a higher Win/Loss ratio. But what those statistics don't reveal is the one alarming factor that New Zealand have tied 3 T20 matches.

Regardless, this clash of the earliest adopters of T20Is, New Zealand, and one of the latest entrants to the format, Sri Lanka, has all the makings of an instant classic within the context of USA’s cricketing history and the Broward County Regional Park will be set alight when the Black Caps go against the Lankan Lancers on Saturday, May 22, 2010.

(To be continued ...)

Pearls Cup Reshaped - No match on Thursday. Event begins on Friday instead.

openingbat — Sat, 15 May 2010 03:25:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

USA Cricket - NZ Cricket Media Release

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Friday, May 14 - Next week's historic series of international cricket matches scheduled for Florida has been re-shaped to include two double headers, featuring the New Zealand BLACKCAPS vs. Sri Lanka and the USA vs. Jamaica.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka were originally scheduled to play three international Twenty20 matches to launch the hosting of full international cricket in the USA. However, the International Cricket Council has ruled that the lights available at the Broward County Regional Park are not quite up to the standard required for the broadcast and hosting of full international cricket.

"Ideally the inaugural game in the Pearls Cup series would have been a night game on Thursday, May 20th. The lights at the stadium are fine for most levels of cricket, but they need to be of a higher standard for the playing and broadcast of international cricket" said New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan.

“And added to this, there is a high probability of rain and thunderstorms in the region on Thursday which added weight to our decision. Because of these factors, we have decided, along with our partner USA Cricket, to focus all of the attention on the weekend with the two double headers as well a full One Day International between USA and Jamaica on Friday the 21st.”

"The BLACKCAPS are tremendously excited about the opportunity of launching international cricket in the United States and it promises to be an amazing weekend of cricket. The BLACKCAPS have had fantastically close games against the Sri Lankan team in recent times and the Pearls Cup series promises to be a great spectacle.

It is also great to see that Jamaica have sent a full-strength squad, including a number of players who have played for the West Indies. Their games against the top USA team should also add a lot to the event" Vaughan said.

Anyone who had purchased a ticket for Thursday's game should contact Ticketmaster for a reallocation to the weekend or a refund.

Mixer with Florida Marlins planned for New Zealand Black Caps - Reports

openingbat — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:54:00 GMT

The On Drive reported today that the visiting New Zealand BlackCaps will have a mixer with Florida Marlins at one of the Marlins home games in the days preceding the Pearls Cup series between NZ and Sri Lanka.

The report quoted Brendon McCullum as saying: "I’m looking forward to going along to see the Florida Marlins. Baseball is such a huge sport in the U.S., it will be interesting to see how the game is structured compared to cricket."

"They are excited about playing somewhere as interesting as Florida, and taking the game to a new destination and fan-base," the player said.

For full report, please click here.

Tickets go on sale for New Zealand vs Sri Lanka series. Third World concert added attraction.

openingbat — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:53:00 GMT

Online ticket vendor Ticketmaster has begun selling tickets for the forthcoming Pearls Cup International T20 series featuring New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

In addition to three T20 matches between the two international sides, the event includes two exciting matches - an ODI and a T20 - between USA and Jamaica.

The venue for the event is USA's first ICC certified cricket stadium - the Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, Florida.

The event kicks off at 4:00PM ET on Thursday, May 20th, with a T20 match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Following that, on Friday, May 21st, USA will play an ODI match against Jamaica which begins at 10:00 AM.

On Saturday, May 22nd, the spectator is going to be in for a treat with back-to-back T20 matches followed by an entertainment event. The day begins at 10:00 AM with a match between USA and Jamaica. Following that, New Zealand will play Sri Lanka at 3:00 PM. According to Ticketmaster, the Jamaican reggae band Third World, will perform at 7:30 following the second T20 match.

The event ends on Sunday with a T20 match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka that begins at 12:30 PM. This third match of the Pearls Cup series between the two nations will be followed by a prize ceremony.

Ticketmaster has listed the tickets at prices ranging from $5 (general admission for USA vs Jamaica ODI) to $95 (hospitality seating on Saturday). Prices for the full package price for all four days are $55 (general admission - lawn seating), $90 (chairbacks in the East and West stands) and $255 (hospitality seating - not including USA vs Jamaica ODI on Friday).

The hospitality tickets will be located within the hospitality tent that will be setup in the general admission lawn, which will be a premium ticketed area that is exclusive to hospitality ticket holders only. All purchasers of the hospitality tickets will receive food and drinks within the hospitality tent.

The series, follows on the heels of the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies - with the finals in Barbados on 16th May.

Sri Lanka was a finalist in the 2009 event while the New Zealand Black Caps were semi-finalists in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and made it through to the Super Eight stage of the 2009 event. The two sides include some of the greatest names in cricket. Indian real estate developer, Pearls Infrastructure is the title sponsor for the event.

Third World, which calls itself 'one of the longest running Reggae band' performs music that is 'internationally relevant.'

Formed in 1973, the group has released a total of 22 albums not including their latest album entitled "Patriots".

They have received numerous awards, including most recent New York City Ambassador Award in November 2009 at Brooklyn Academy of Music ("BAM"), the 1986 "United Nations Peace Medal," 1992 and 1996 Jamaica Music Industry Awards for Best Show Band and 10 Grammy nominations.

Third World has collaborated with top acts such as the Jackson Five, Bob Marley and The Wailers and Stevie Wonder. International hit singles include: the cover version of "Now That We've Found Love," "96 Degrees in the Shade," "Cool Meditation," "Dancing on the Floor," "Try Jah Love," "Sense of Purpose," "Forbidden Love," "Reggae Ambassador," "Committed," and "Reggae Party."

The ICC ODI certified cricket facility is capable of accommodating 20,000 patrons, with fixed seating for 5,000. All tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis.

New Zealand - Sri Lanka T20 Series an investment for the future of USA Cricket

openingbat — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:53:00 GMT

Speaking on a range of topics over the weekend in connection with the New Zealand vs Sri Lanka series in Florida, both USA Cricket CEO Don Lockerbie and NZC CEO Justin Vaughan concurred that the series should be viewed as a worthwhile investment for the future.

"The series will run at a loss. The US is a market that needs to grow to love and appreciate cricket before you can start really trying to run profitable events," Mr. Vaughan told The New Zealand Herald. "In the long term it could be a really good deal for us," he added. Speaking to a different newspaper, The Dominion Post, Mr. Vaughan said: "It is not like rugby [All Blacks playing Bledisloe Cup matches in Asia] where you get an immediate financial return, that is not the case. It is part of a longer term relationship."

In an email to DreamCricket.com, Don Lockerbie wrote: “This match series is the launch of a long term commercial partnership between USA Cricket and New Zealand Cricket and so we are not measuring the success of the event in the revenues raised so much as we are the exposure for the sport n the USA.”

“We have a long term business model in the works - and I can assure you that the new venture will be profitable and raise significant revenues to develop cricket in the USA and fund the initiatives our board has been busy developing for the long term growth of cricket in the USA,” Mr. Lockerbie noted.

Speaking about how this would evolve, Mr. Vaughan said: "We'd like to think the Black Caps would play there (in USA) annually. Ideally we'll go there to or from tours to the West Indies or on the way to England. They will always be short series. Possibly we'll play Pakistan there."

Mr. Lockerbie said that the organization was working on quite a few sponsor opportunities - besides announcing the Indian development firm PEARLS as the title sponsor for the series.

Pic (Right): As readers who watched today's IPL final may have observed, PEARLS is a major sponsor in Indian cricket. The PEARLS logo appears on the right sleeve of the Mumbai Indians team shirt.

“We hope to announce more sponsors in short order - meanwhile we are happy to hear from any companies interested in a commercial partnership,” Mr. Lockerbie wrote. Adding, “we are close to securing the worldwide broadcast rights for the event and will make this announcment when all becomes official”

Speaking about the logistics of managing such a large scale event, Mr. Lockerbie said that The Pearls Cup will be managed in a collaborative manner with New Zealand Cricket providing their experienced operations staff to work closely with USACA Cricket Operations Director Sheikh Manaf Mohamed.

He hoped that USA Cricket could host the two teams to world class standards. “A full event calendar will be developed and finalized shortly. My goal is to read in the press that the players have had a remarkable experience in the USA and want to come back to help us develop the sport. The goal for USA Cricket is to have our "Destination USA" program launch our development initiatives - intended to resource our regions with funding and programs to teach the sport and recruit American players to build our base for future national teams.”

“We have a team developing of sports marketing and management people from the area and also have quite a bit of interest from the ICC - who are sending umpires and officials directly from the World T20 to officiate.”

Answering a question on whether USA will also play in an exhibition match in the tournament, Mr. Lockerbie wrote that the NZC vs SL matches will be played on May 20th, 22nd and 23rd. According to Mr. Lockerbie, USACA was working to finalize separate matches between USA and Jamaica on the May 21st as part of the event. Similarly, there would potentially be a double header on 22nd to compliment a T20 match featuring New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Mr. Lockerbie noted that “these USA matches will come a week before Team USA travels to Bermuda to compete as the defending champions in the ICC Americas Championships.”

“We won this tournament in 2008,” he reminded.

Commenting on USA's readiness to compete against test-playing countries, Mr. Vaughan told The Dominion Post that USA still has some ways to go. “I'm sure in three to five years they would like to see themselves in a tri-series or something."

Responding to a separate question on whether the teams playing in The Pearls Cup would be full-strength sides, Mr. Lockerbie noted: “The two full members will come directly from the World T20 in the West Indies.”

Sanath Jayasuriya to play in Sri Lanka's historic maiden tour of USA

openingbat — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:19:00 GMT

March 31, 2010

Sri Lanka's Daily News confirmed today that Sri Lanka will play a series of Twenty20 Internationals after the World Cup.

"After the World Cup in the Caribbean the Sri Lankan team will also play a series of Twenty20 Internationals against New Zealand and the United States of America during their historic maiden cricket tour to the USA," the newspaper wrote.

Daily News also noted that 40-year old Sanath Jayasuriya and 20-year old Dinesh Chandimal would both be part of the squad for the World Cup in the Caribbean and the tour of USA following that.

The full Sri Lanka squad is as follows - Kumar Sangakkara, Muthiah Muralidharan, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardana, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Chanaka Welagedara, Chamara Kapugedara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chinthaka Jayasinghe.

This latest news report follows last week's report from Pakistan's The Nation, in which Nabeel Ahmed, USACA First VP, was quoted as saying: “Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) - have agreed to send their teams immediately after the ICC Twenty20 final (in Barbados on May 16).”

Although the exact schedule is not yet known, the timing of the matches following the ICC Twenty20 final would be perfect from a logistical perspective.

“The weather condition in Florida is same as in West Indies and two teams playing here will not find any problem as Florida is only one and half hour flying away from West Indies,” Nabeel Ahmed told The Nation.

New Zealand has just finished their tour of Australia and look to get some rest before reassembling on April 18th for a training camp prior to departing for the Caribbean. The following Black Caps squad for the World T20 was announced yesterday: Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.

In his 'Message from the CEO' dated March 5th, Justin Vaughan, CEO of New Zealand Cricket wrote: "We are pushing ahead with plans for a T20 series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka to be held in Florida in May. If successful, it would be the first time two full ICC members will have met in an official match on US soil and it follows the agreement of a strategic partnership between NZC and the USA Cricket Association."