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New York’s Eisenhower Park will not host a single international game before the start of the ICC T20 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States and two-time winners – the West Indies. Eisenhower Park will be Team India’s venue for three group-stage matches at the T20 World Cup. The cricket venue will be ready by the end of May.
Interestingly, Eisenhower Park will have drop-in pitches for the ICC World Cup encounters. Transported over 22,530 km, the pitch trays arrived in the US from Adelaide. Hosting an ICC event for the first time, fans in the US will witness the mother of all cricket rivalries later this year. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will resume their epic rivalry at the grandest stage in New York on 9 June.
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New York, Texas and Florida have been picked as bespoke venues for the ICC event. “Our aim is to produce pitches that have pace and consistent bounce, on which the players can play their shots,” Adelaide Oval pitch curator Damian Hough told the BBC. “We want entertaining cricket, but there are challenges.”
The project for 10 drop-in pitches kickstarted in October last year. Split into two trays, match venues will have four match-ready pitches and six strips that teams can use for warm-ups. The trays were shipped from Adelaide to Florida in January. “I have mixed feelings,” said Hough, whose team is taking 12 hours to plant pitches at the selected venues for the World Cup.
“I’m really excited, but I’m a bit anxious at the same time – there are still unknowns. This is a long process. What we do know is we’ve given it our best shot. We’ve thoroughly thought through every possible outcome and issue along the way and we’re hoping that they’re going to be some good cricket pitches,” Hough added.
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