Nassau Cricket Stadium was a modular cricket stadium specially built for the T20 World Cup 2024. The Stadium had a seating capacity of 34,000 people. Dismantling of the stadium has already begun after U.S vs India match on 12th June.
Unveiling Of The Nassau County Stadium
On 5h June the first ball was bowled in the newly built stadium on Long Island. Famous athletes including New York Knicks shooting guard John Starks and former fastest man of the world Usain Bolt were in for the unveiling ceremony.
“People come and see and enjoy and hopefully people catch on and it will become even bigger in the United States,” Bolt said.
The Captain of the U.S. Cricket team Monak Patel, born in India, said at the ceremony “ It will grow cricket in the U.S.”
The Venue Hosted 8 Matches
The stadium hosted 8 games including the high-profile India Vs Pakistan game. The modular structure will be removed while leaving only the outfield as a token of the T20 World Cup held in the USA.
Nature Of The Pitch
The drop-in Pitch of Nassau Stadium which gave nightmares to many batters, will be replaced with an artificial turf.
For the preparation of pitches, the ICC left it to Nassau County Authorities to prepare, otherwise, the drop-in pitches will be used by the ICC prepared in Florida with the help of South Australian expertise. The pitch preparation remained a matter of contention in cricketing circles.
USA & West Indies Co-hosting The T20 World Cup
In November 2021 it was announced by the ICC that the 2024 T20 World Cup will be Co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies.
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Venues For The Tournament In USA
In July 2023, Four venues were shortlisted for the matches in the USA including Lauderhill, Florida (Central Broward Park), Morrisville, North Carolina (Church Street Park), Grand Prairie, Texas (Grand Prairie Stadium), and a temporary stadium at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York City. Source (Wikipedia)
However, the venue at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York City was criticized by the locals citing environmental issues and no public accessibility to the park for an extended period.
Thus the ICC announced to relocation venue to Eisenhower Park in East Meadow in Nassau County.
Major Cricket League At Nassau Stadium
According to Cricbuzz, the Major League Cricket League (MLC) was planned to be hosted at the Nassau Stadium but later on, the MLC authorities and franchises didn’t show interest.
In the MLC New York is the base for the Mumbai Indians team which is owned by the Ambani (Mukesh Ambani) family in India. Ambanis are expected to build a stadium in New York in the future.
Difficult Nassau Pitch
Nassau’s pitch has been a puzzle for the analysts. Some teams were able to defend modest scores not exceeding 120 runs. While others easily chased down the target.
India was able to defend a low score of 119 runs against Pakistan.
Similarly, South Africa managed to keep Bangladesh at bay defending 113 runs. On the contrary, Pakistan swiftly chased down Canada’s target of 107 runs. Although Canada; ‘s bowling wasn’t that good, still Pakistan chased the target comfortably.
On the other hand, India struggled against the USA to chase 111 until Surya Kumar Yadav and Shivam Dube came to rescue India.
Thus Nassau’s pitch made it difficult for the analysts to make an analysis and predict the outcome of the matches.
The outcome of Games In The Stadium
A total of Eight games were played in the Nassau County Stadium. Out of Eight matches, the team batting first won three matches while the chasing team won five times.
The team that batted first, on average, scored 108 runs. The highest total was of Canada when the team scored 137 for seven against Ireland and defended it. India chased the highest total of 111 against the USA.
By now, the dismantling of the stadium is underway which will take about Six weeks. However, the matches played at this venue have given some cherishing memories to the cricket fraternity. The matches at the venue were even contests between the ball and bat. Almost all the matches played on the pitch went to the wire and fans witnessed some exciting cricket.