Published: Jul 22, 2017, 04:04 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 22, 2017, 04:12 PM (IST)
Ahead of the start of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2017, two teams from the league will play against the USA national team as part of the week’s festivities in Florida. In the first match, USA will face St Kitts & Nevis Patriots on August 2, while in the second match, they will take on Jamaica Tallawahs on August 3. Both the matches will be played at Central Broward Regional Stadium, where the last year’s India vs West Indies T20I took place. After these warm-up matches, the tournament will get underway with a pair of double-headers in Florida on August 5 and 6.
“These matches are a great opportunity for Team USA to compete against some of the best in the world. Initiatives such as these are of critical importance for the development of our playing group and we are grateful to the CPL, St. Kitts Patriots and Jamaica Tallawahs for arranging these practice matches in the lead up to the USA-leg of the tournament,” USA Chairman of Selectors Ricardo Powell said.
“The Hero CPL is firmly committed to spreading the game of cricket in the USA and these matches are just another example of this. We see so much potential for growth of cricket in the USA and we want to make sure we are doing all we can to help that cause,” CPL CEO Damien O’Donohoe said.
As many of the USA national team players are signed up by various CPL franchises, they will be unavailable to play in these warm-up fixtures. Nevertheless, the crowd will get to witness the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Gayle, Samuel Badree, Shakib-Al Hasan to name a few.
