Dallas to hold T20 World Cup opener, Barbados gets final

The opening game of cricket's Twenty20 World Cup will be held in Dallas with the final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, organisers announced on Friday.

The expanded 20-team tournament is being jointly held by the United States and the West Indies and will get under way on June 1 at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas, Texas, when the USA take on Canada, both teams making their first appearances at a T20 World Cup.

A total of 16 games will be held in the United States – the first time that a major international cricket tournament is held in the country.

A new venue 30 miles east of downtown Manhattan will host the big clash between India and Pakistan on Sunday, June 9 – one of eight games to be held at the 34 000 stadium being built in Nassau County.

Lauderhill in South Florida, the most established cricket venue in the USA, will host games featuring India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

While cricket is a niche sport in the United States it does enjoy significant support from the South Asian and Caribbean communities in the country.

Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave told AFP that the tournament marks a serious push by the International Cricket Council (ICC) establish the game's foothold in the United States, particularly the new venue in the New York area.

"I think it's a smart move by ICC to do what it needs to do. The whole point of going to the US isn't just for tokenism and a gesture," he said.

"It's got to be part of a proper and robust strategy to try and crack the US market. And I don't think there's a better way of doing it than the New York Tri-State area."

INDIA V PAKISTAN IN NEW YORK

The selection of New York for the India v Pakistan game gives the event a chance to make a splash with a big crowd for one of the sport's biggest rivalries.

"You can imagine that everyone in the Caribbean, anyone hosting the World Cup wants India, Pakistan to be one of their games. There's a lot of people that missed out on that," added Grave.

"But I think if you're going to create the noise and attention that you want to give the sport, both in terms of the live broadcast partners, but also the news agencies and the news channels and just the general interest, India, Pakistan would, in terms of a sporting event, would rival the Super Bowl.

"In which case putting it in New York and on the second big weekend, is a smart move by the ICC," he said.

The West Indies hosted the 2010 T20 World Cup, three years after they held the 50-over version and as well as benefitting directly themselves they also hope to boost a strategic partnership with cricket in the USA.

"I think we have a responsibility to grow the game, with (T20 in the) L.A. Olympics in 2028 and what we can do with the Pan Am Games, the Central American and Caribbean Games and just T20 in generally, we think it can really grow in the Americas," Grave added.

Defending champions England will begin their title defence on June 4 in Barbados against Scotland and 2022 finalists, Pakistan, will get underway when they play the USA in Dallas.

England will go up against traditional rivals Australia in Barbados on June 8.

The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five, with the top two teams progressing to the 'Super Eights'.

The Super Eight games will all be held in the Caribbean – in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The two top teams from each group in the Super Eight will progress to the semifinals, which will be held in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on June 26/27. The final will be held in Barbados on June 29.

Draw for group stage:

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA

Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman

Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea

Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal