Daily Times

ST KITTS: West Indies are set to host Bangladesh for three Twenty20 internationals in August, with the second and third games to be held at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida. St Kitts is likely to be the venue for the first game. A Florida stadium official was quoted as saying earlier this year that Cricket West Indies (CWI) had reserved the dates to hold a set of matches, initially believed to be against Pakistan as a reciprocal arrangement following West Indies’ agreement to play three T20Is in Karachi in April. But Bangladesh are already due to tour the West Indies in July — a tour pushed back from March due to it clashing with the World Cup Qualifier that West Indies took part in – for two Tests and three ODIs.

According to the stadium official in Lauderhill, August 4 and 5 were reserved by CWI to stage the T20Is, prior to the start of the 2018 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which will run from August 8 to September 16. It makes for a busy month of cricket in Lauderhill, with three Jamaica Tallawahs matches also anticipated to be held at the venue during the CPL. This will be the third time West Indies will host a team in Florida. After the maiden T20I series on USA soil, between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in May 2010, West Indies played New Zealand in 2012, just a few months before winning the World T20 title in Sri Lanka. West Indies then returned in August 2016 to play a pair of T20Is against India, with the first match drawing a sellout crowd of 15,000 people.

Though it is the only ODI-certified stadium in the USA that can host T20Is between two Test nations, the venue’s drainage facilities have been a source of concern in the past. That was exposed during the India matches, with no supersoppers available, and the second match producing no result despite a thunderstorm that lasted only 20 minutes. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from July to November, with thunderstorms almost a daily threat. The Pakistan Cricket Board’s desire to be a third team in a possible tri-series in Florida is not financially viable for Lauderhill as matches would need to be played not just on weekdays but in the day time. The floodlights at the ground in Lauderhill are inadequate for international cricket, and it would require temporary supplemental floodlights – something the CPL did in 2016.

Published in Daily Times, May 13^th 2018.