Leisure … more than a word, it's a lifestyle

It’s always fun to be in at the start of something new and something that has the potential to grow and grow. Here in Orlando we are used to new beginnings and new stuff coming around to the theme parks every year. Last year we also had the start of Orlando City, a professional soccer team with aspirations to become the 20th team to join the MLS. We have followed their quest from day one and it’s been an exciting journey with the team taking the USLPRO championship.

This past weekend has been another of those occasions as international cricket came to Florida. Although it was in the Fort Lauderdale area rather than here in Central Florida we journeyed down the 200 miles of Florida’s Turnpike to follow the game and to see the action. For those that have never been to a cricket match before it is essentially a bat and ball game played between two teams of eleven players. The action takes place on the “wicket” which is a rectangular 22 yard long area at the center of the playing field.

The essence of the game is for the team that is batting to score as many runs as possible while their opponent bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and therefore, limit the amount of runs scored. A run is scored when the striking batsman hits the ball with his bat and runs to the opposite end of the wicket touching his bat on the “crease”…a white line placed in front of the three stumps known as “Wickets.”

The game is played until 10 of the batsmen are out or until the number of overs in a limited overs game has been reached. In professional cricket the length of a game ranges from 20 overs of six bowling deliveries to Test cricket played over five days.

Cricket is played all over the world but is particularly popular in England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies and it was the latter two teams who played at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill near Fort Lauderdale over the weekend.

It was the first time that the two countries had met in the United States and the two games were in the ever popular format of 20/20 meaning each team batted for 20 overs. Two games were played, one on Saturday and one on Sunday before the teams headed off to the West Indies to compete in further games.

Both games ended in convincing wins for the West Indies and they left New Zealand with much to reflect upon as they go to the Caribbean. The large crowd was mainly made up of fans of the West Indies, many of whom have moved to Florida from the Caribbean islands some years ago, and they were all able to enjoy some great entertainment thanks to a superb pitch prepared by Head Groundsman Samuel Plummer, who has been working on the facility for some two years prior to these two games.

After the games, I spoke to one of the men responsible for creating the $73 million facility and the only cricket stadium in the United States certified by the International Cricket Council, Dale Holness – Broward County Commissioner who said: “This is only the start of cricket in Florida and the USA. We hope to bring back cricket again in the future and to make games here at our facility a regular part of the West Indies tour.  There is still some opposition from some of the Caribbean Islands to it as they think we’re taking away from them but we’re really not. We’re actually helping to spread the game and make it more popular which can only be to the good of everyone connected to cricket.”

Overall, it was a great occasion and we’ll continue to watch with interest how things develop in the future. More photos are at FloridaLeisurePhotography.com

For The Record:

Game One:  West Indies 209 / 2  New Zealand 153 all out. West Indies won by 56 runs.

Game Two: West Indies 177 / 5  New Zealand 116 all out. West Indies won by 61 runs.

Cricket is coming to the USA and to Florida!

In what’s being hailed as the first officially sanctioned cricket matches in the United States, teams from the West Indies and New Zealand will face each other at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, Lauderhill this weekend.

Darren Sammy, captain of the West Indies team, (pictured above) said:

“It’s always good to be part of history. What will be better for us is if we can win these two games here and create our own history.”

Saturday and Sunday’s games will see the start of the official season tour for the two teams and after the two South Florida games, they’ll go on to complete the series in the Caribbean.

The matches are expected to attract a crowd of 16,000 to the home of the only cricket stadium in the United States certified by the International Cricket Council – Central Broward Regional Park

Organizers have been in negotiations to come to the United States for three years and the intention is for Broward have a spot on the West Indies cricket tour for the next four years.

“Bringing the game here is going to create an economic engine and it’s going to be the stepping stone for future games,” said Albert A. Tucker, vice president of multicultural business development for Broward County.

It’s not the first time professional international cricket has been played in South Florida however, as in 2010, the venue hosted the Pearls Cup, an exhibition game between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Each side won one game each.

Currently the West Indies is in seventh place in the world rankings while New Zealand ranks eighth so the competition will be a close run thing.

“Both teams are evenly matched, it’s a good opportunity for us to see how much progress we’ve made in the last 12 months against a very competitive New Zealand,” said Ottis Gibson, head coach for West Indies. “We’re doing it in neutral territory. The place is new to both of us, and that’s why it’s a good opportunity.”

There’s sure to be a good sized crowd as Greater Fort Lauderdale is home to one of the largest Caribbean communities in the United States with more than 500,000 between Broward and Palm Beach counties alone.

“We have large Caribbean supporters, it would be good to come here and put a smile on their faces,” said Sammy.

Ross Taylor, the New Zealand captain, (pictured above) said the absence of formal pre-tour preparation would not be an excuse if his side should under perform in the USA and the Caribbean.

New Zealand have not played since hosting South Africa in February and March and had no camp prior to departure. They will not have any warm-up games before the limited-overs matches either. Taylor said that it wasn’t ideal. “You’ve got to weigh up traveling to rest. There are a few players that have come from England – Guppy [Martin Guptill] and Kane Williamson. I guess the IPL players played not so long ago, and there’s other players who have been in Australia. It’s not ideal preparation, but it is what it is, and we’ll have no excuses.”

Taylor also said that the West Indies might be better prepared for the series, having played against England and Australia recently, and expected them to be a tough unit. “They’re coming in from playing cricket, so I guess they will be better prepared than us. It’s still no excuse for us. We’re a professional team and we need to start off as well as possible.”

We look forward to it… the start of cricket in the United States …may the game grow!

Where to go: Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, 3700 NW 11th Pl., Lauderhill

When:  Saturday Game 1 – Start time 3.00pm     Sunday Game 2 – Start time 2.00pm