CPLT20 set for US in 2016

Fri, Jun 12, '15

World-class cricket is finally coming to the United States with “three or four” matches being planned for south Florida next year, a top Caribbean official told Reuters yesterday.

The matches will be Twenty20 fixtures, the relatively new form of cricket that takes just three hours -- shorter than an average Major League Baseball game.

They will be part of the Caribbean Premier League T20, a competition which is gearing up for its third season and already has celebrity involvement, with Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg among the franchise owners.

“The plan is for three or four matches in Fort Lauderdale,” Caribbean Premier League CEO Damien O’Donohoe told Reuters in a telephone interview.

O’Donohoe, who hopes to establish a full-time franchise in North America, said next year’s matches would be played at the Central Broward Stadium in Lauderhill, the only internationally certified cricket ground in the United States.

O’Donohoe is confident that the large Caribbean community in south Florida will pack out the stadium, which holds less than 10,000 people, but he is hopeful that Americans will also attend.

“Americans love watching the best players in the world. If anyone’s in position to give it a shot, we’re best positioned,” he said.