Cricket stars Dwayne Bravo and Liam Plunkett took center stage hitting sixes in New York’s Times Square with local fans and players ahead of the biggest cricket carnival ever. Chris Gayle was in attendance in Freedom Park in Barbados with a spectacle of colour and music, as a street parade in Bridgetown celebrated the biggest T20 World Cup ever.
A number of other spectacular events took place in Dallas, Miami, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Vincent & The Grenadines with sporting talent present and fans enjoying cricketing activities. The launch also signified the start of general ticket sales for the event which begins on 1 June where hosts USA face Canada in Dallas in a repeat of the first-ever international cricket match in 1844.
Tickets are available at tickets.t20worldcup.com
Dwayne Bravo expressed excitement about the build up to the tournament.
“I think the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is going to be an incredible event and here in New York for the first time you are going to have the greatest players competing against each other. It's going to create history. It's about time that cricket made its mark here in the USA and people here now can look forward to seeing their favourite players and can experience it first-hand," he said.
“The fact that it's co-hosted between the US and the West Indies is good for cricket. It's fantastic for our region in the Caribbean to be able to show the world that we are able to host events as big as the World Cup. We are also happy that we are able to contribute to the growth of the development of cricket in the USA," Bravo added.
For Chris Gayle the expectation is also high, especially given the talent that will be on show in the tournament.
“We have some fantastic entertainers within the sport and you're going to see them live in the West Indies and USA this year at the T20 World Cup. You're going to see the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, youngster Yashavsi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shaheen Afridi – the list goes on! It's going to be a cracking, entertaining event," Gayle said.
The verdict comes nearly two months after the tournament, which India won by beating South Africa by seven runs in the final on June 29.
In those two games at the Nassau County Stadium, Sri Lanka were skittled out for 77 against South Africa on June 3 while Ireland were dismissed for 96 by India two days later.
In the second game, a number of players from both sides copped were struck on the body as a result of the uneven bounce in the pitch.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma had to retire hurt as a precautionary measure after being hit on the upper arm by Josh Little.
India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and Ireland batsman Harry Tector were also struck as a result of the nature of the surface.
At the time, Andy Flower had said the pitch in New York was "bordering on dangerous," while former England captain Michael Vaughan called it "shocking."
The venue in New York was readied in five months. Damian Hough, chief curator at the Adelaide Oval, was brought in by the ICC to prepare the drop-in pitches.
But after criticism from various quarters, the ICC had acknowledged that the pitches there had been substandard and the short turnaround time between matches didn't help. New York hosted eight games in two weeks.
Remedial work was carried out, and ahead of the following game, between Canada and Ireland, areas where grass shoots were growing under the cracks were covered with topsoil and rolled in to make the surface much flatter.
The surfaces used for the subsequent fixtures in New York, including India vs Pakistan, where 119 beat 113 for 7, have been rated as "satisfactory".
The bigger point of scrutiny, perhaps more than New York, was on the surface for the semi-final, where Afghanistan were bowled out for 56 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
The wicket was wildly unpredictable as some deliveries rolled along the ground while a few reared up from a similar spot.
At the time, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott was clear "that's not a pitch you want to play a semi-final on".
Generally, surfaces at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy were a challenge. West Indies, who scored 149 there and defended it narrowly against New Zealand, were tottering at 30 for 5 at one stage.
The ICC rates pitches, and outfields, for all international games on a scale of very good to unfit: very good, good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory and unfit.
The surface at Providence for the India vs England semi-final was rated "satisfactory", while the Kensington Oval deck for the final between India and South Africa was rated "very good".
The ICC was largely happy with the state of the outfields, with only New York and Guyana receiving "satisfactory" ratings, while the others were "very good".
