Featured image credit: ICC
Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, a new temporary venue that has been built to host New York’s games at the T20 World Cup, hosted its first fixture at the tournament yesterday (Monday) as South Africa defeated Sri Lanka.
The 34,000-seat stadium, which has been designed by Populous, was unveiled last month and will host eight matches during the T20 World Cup. The US is co-hosting the event alongside the West Indies.
The stadium is located in Eisenhower Park, Nassau County, 30 miles east of Manhattan. Yesterday’s match, which South Africa won by six wickets, attracted a crowd of 12,500.
The venue staged a warm-up match between Bangladesh and India on Saturday, with the fixture attracting a crowd of more than 20,000.
Although yesterday’s match went ahead without any organisational issues, the stadium’s drop-in pitch provided difficult batting conditions, with Sri Lanka’s score of 77 marking the country’s lowest ever in T20 cricket.
The next World Cup match at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium will take place tomorrow (Wednesday) between India and Ireland. The tournament finale will be staged in the Caribbean but New York will host the high-profile group stage match between India and Pakistan on June 9.
The temporary stadium is the first of its kind for international cricket and believed to be the largest ever constructed in the United States. In addition to the east and west general admission stands which rise to more than 20 metres, and include views of the Manhattan skyline, extensive hospitality and media pavilions on the north and south ends of the venue have been constructed and were featured in last month’s unveiling.
The other two US venues for this year’s T20 World Cup are Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas and Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida.
The tournament will run until June 29.
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