Broward County headed for the history books

BRENDON McCullum and Malinga

With Broward being so diverse, it is only fitting that the county, populated with thousands of cricket enthusiasts, be afforded the opportunity to be part of this nation’s history.

It’s a dream almost a decade in the making. Lauderhill's quest for international cricket to service a melting pot of cricket-loving nationals living in the City began in 2002 with a bid to host warm-up matches for the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. As part of that bid process, the Central Broward Regional Park where the games will be played, was developed with cricket facilities central to the venue.

However, the city was disappointed when it was not chosen as one of the venues for the tournament and since then has been in the hunt to use the only ICC sanctioned cricket facility in the United States to play International games.

NEW ZEALAND CAPTAIN DAN VETTORI

“We are delighted to be able to host New Zealand and Sri Lanka in these historic matches,” said City of Lauderhill Mayor, Richard J. Kaplan. “The City and County have invested resources into the Regional Park with exactly this type of event in mind. Cricket is the world's second most popular sport and the City of Lauderhill includes people from the cricket mad nations of the West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That makes a powerful formula for the success of international cricket in this area,” he said.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka are both ranked in the top six teams in the world.

The teams will fly into Fort Lauderdale directly from their commitments at the World Twenty20 Championship and will be at full strength. They will play matches on Thursday, May 20, Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23.

Meanwhile, Jamaica will field its full complement of stars except for those currently on tour with the West Indies and will play their two games against the U.S. on Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22.

Twenty20 cricket is the shortest form of the game, played in less than three hours with a well-deserved reputation for big hits, stunning fielding and dramatic bowling. And with some of the world’s biggest stars on display the games should provide some great excitement.