When the International Cricket Committee, the governing body of world cricket, endorsed the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, the historic occasion went by virtually unnoticed by the United States cricket community.

Click here for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth articles in this series, which explores the best grounds in USA selected on the basis of the ground's setting, the passion that went into creating the ground, and the pitch and outfield quality. If you know of more grounds - private or public - please email us at content@dreamcricket.com

Reader Comments

By Peter Simunovich

When the International Cricket Committee, the governing body of world cricket, endorsed the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, the historic occasion went by virtually unnoticed by the United States cricket community.

When the ICC stamped its approval on the field, which is commonly known as just Lauderhill, it sanctioned the field to hold matches against the Test playing countries, who have full membership with the ICC.

This is a major breakthrough for the United States Cricket Association, which under the leadership of Don Lockerbie, the Chief Executive Officer, has been given a new approach and facelift as the US tries to climb up the ICC ladder from an Associates member.

Manaf Mohamed, the USACA Second Vice President and Director of Cricket Operations, said the ICC certified Lauderhill after an application for official status by Broward County in March last year. Broward County owns the field.

He said that the ICC approved the field when extensions to two locker rooms for privacy and additional comfort for players, umpires and officials in the main pavilion had been given the go ahead.

Chad Singh, who is in charge of Special Projects with Broward County, told DreamCricket.com in an interview that the plans have already been approved and construction would begin soon. He said the project would be carried in house by the county and there would be no extra costs.

“It will be more spacious, more storage room for the players and it will be state of the art. It will be a lot more comfortable for the players. We want the cricketers to have a great time here when they come,” said Singh.

The plans were inspected by Jeff Crowe, the former New Zealand Test player, now an official with the ICC, in November last year and finally approved by the ICC in December.

“This is means that we can hold official ICC endorsed matches,” said Mohamed. “This is a big step for us because we can now attract the Test playing teams. We can also use it as a home field and as a camp for the national team.”

Mohamed said a plan to have 12 practice nets at Lauderhill also had been approved. Part of a long range strategy is to have a media center and press box built at the field. But he said the immediate policy was to get international matches played there.

Lockerbie has been in discussions with several Test playing countries after he made a trip to London during the Test match between England and Australia at Lord’s.

The USACA board has a vision of having all its operations under one roof with Lauderhill being a strong option at the moment.

Lauderhill has three fields with the main one having four turf wickets while the other two have an artificial pitch. The main field has 5,000 seats, but this can be increased with 15,000 temporary seats for a capacity crowd of 20,000.

During the season up to 10 teams from the South Florida Cricket Alliance and the Florida South East Cricket League play at Lauderhill.

Soccer, rugby, netball and lacrosse are also played at the Lauderhill complex.

In another development, the USACA is considering moving the senior tournament in October between New York, South East, Central East and South West regions from Houston, Texas, to either Lauderhill or Woodley Park in Los Angeles, California.

Mohamed said a USACA committee, which oversees national and international matches, preferred the tournament, which is scheduled from October 9 to 11, to be played on turf wickets rather than an artificial pitch, which Houston has.

He said a decision would probably be reached in about a week.

Click here for past articles on the Lauderhill cricket stadium:

Lauderhill Cricket Stadium - A White Elephant?

USA gets a cricket stadium in Lauderhill, Florida

Photos Courtesy of DeRose Consultants