Danielle Vettori

Kumar Sangakkara

Sri Lanka and the New Zealand Blackcaps will face off in a three-match Twenty20 (T20) series at Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium in Lauderhill, the only ICC-certified cricket stadium in North America. Both teams feature some of the world's leading cricket players. The event is expected to draw thousands of cricket fans from throughout the United States and internationally to Broward County.

"The T20 series is a signature event for our park and stadium," said Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl. "Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium is a world class facility and we are proud to be part of a historic first in the international cricket community."

This match marks the launch of a new strategic partnership between USA Cricket and New Zealand Cricket to further advance the sport in the United States. "USA Cricket has worked hard to bring this event about and we are very excited about the potential impact of this series for the growth and development of cricket in the United States," said Gladstone Dainty, president of USA Cricket.

The Sri Lanka-New Zealand match series follows the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies, which concludes with competitions in Barbados on May 16. Sri Lanka was a finalist in the 2009 event and is expected to perform well again this year. The Blackcaps were semi-finalists in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and made it through to the Super Eight stage of the 2009 event. The two teams will be competing in Broward County for the Pearls Cup, named for the Indian property development company, Pearls Infrastructure, sponsoring the matches.

USA Cricket CEO Donald Lockerbie said the three-match series for Broward has been in the works for some time as part of a new "Destination USA" initiative. "We believe that in order to grow the game of cricket in the USA, we need to have the best teams in the world play in our country," said Lockerbie. "We want to demonstrate to the American public just how exciting the T20 format is. Cricket is already popular here but has lacked major media coverage. This inaugural series is the first step to reverse this situation."

The inaugural game is Thursday night, May 20, and matches are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23. Duncan Finch, Park Manager at Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium, encourages residents to come early to take in the festivities as vendors will be selling traditional foods of New Zealand and Sri Lanka.