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A major milestone has been ticked off at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium ahead of June's ICC Men's T20 World Cup, with the successful delivery of the pitches that will be used at next month's event.
A total of 10 pitches arrived at the New York venue ahead of the first match at the ground between Sri Lanka and South Africa on 3 June, with work having already commenced on the installation of the pitches that have been prepared in Florida by Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions since the end of last year.
Pitch installation in progress at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium for T20 World Cup
Four of the 10 pitches will be prepared in the middle of the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium under the watchful eye of Adelaide Oval Head Curator Damian Hough, with the remaining six pitches to be laid at the neighbouring practice facilities.
A total of 20 semi-trailer trucks were used to transport the pitches from Florida to New York and Hough said there were no major hiccups with the delivery and everything was on track for the eight matches that will be held at the 34,000 seat stadium located at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, east of Manhattan.
"We couldn't be happier," Hough said.
"Everything is going to plan, they (the pitches) are in real good condition and all of our benchmarks and measures that we take along the way are exceeding expectations."
Nine of the 20 teams at this year's T20 World Cup will play matches at the New York venue next month, with the most eagerly awaited contest at the ground coming on 9 June when arch-rivals India and Pakistan do battle in the next instalment of their ongoing rivalry.
Hosts USA, neighbours Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Bangladesh are the other teams that will feature at the venue that has been constructed for the tournament and Hough is expecting conditions at the ground to provide a good contest between bat and ball.
"We hope we have got a good T20 pitch, that has good pace, good bounce and (provides) value for shots," Hough said.
"You want the batters to be able to play shots all over the ground so that is our design and at the start our ambition was to produce pitches along those lines."
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