Can New York Hit Cricket For 6? These Guys Think So

East Meadow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2024) In the shadow of New York skyscrapers a field of dreams emerges, but it is not a baseball diamond. It's for another bat-and-ball sport -- cricket -- that supporters are betting will finally bowl Americans over.

The centuries-old English game has a feverish following throughout much of the world, but the United States, long partial to American football, basketball and national pastime baseball, has been a stubborn holdout.

That may change early next month when the United States has its moment in the cricket sun, co-hosting the Twenty20 World Cup -- the championship series for a shortened format of cricket.

The temporary new stadium, financed entirely by the International Cricket Council, the sport's global governing body, will host eight tournament matches including the June 9 headliner, a potentially epic clash between powerhouses India and Pakistan, two of the sport's biggest rivals.

Some 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of New York, a forest of metal beams supporting 34,000 bleacher seats rises from Long Island's Eisenhower Park, a site the ICC chose after its earlier plan in the Bronx fell through.

It is not quite the gracious as Lord's cricket ground in London, but Nassau County International Cricket Stadium will be in the spotlight shortly -- thanks to a swift green light from local authorities.

"The world is coming right here to Nassau County. You're going to have kings and princes and big dignitaries," beamed the county's deputy commissioner of parks, Michael D'Ambrosio.

"A lot of people are very envious and jealous that we got this," he told AFP, noting the tournament's massive global viewership.