New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka in North America next year, the first significant development from a partnership between cricket's governing bodies in the United States and New Zealand. Three twenty20 international matches were agreed by Donald Lockerbie, chief executive of the United States of America Cricket Association, as part of his Destination USA programme. "We are experiencing increasing demand for Destination USA cricket events from many full member ICC countries and the Sri Lanka v New Zealand series will bring, as forecasted, world-class cricket to the USA," he said.
New Zealand will play some of their matches on the Future Tours Programme in the United States during their off-season from May to October. "Through the strategic collaboration with New Zealand, we now have the additional administrative support and knowledge base to be able to commercialise these opportunities and ultimately grow the revenue streams from one of the world's largest advertising markets," added Lockerbie.
"The matches are a small indication of the amount of cricket content under consideration with our partners at NZC. We will be meeting with potential investors and event developers over the next few weeks and months to keep building our momentum." Lockerbie also indicated a stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is being considered as a neutral venue by Pakistan to host home matches. Pakistan have used the UAE to host games because teams are reluctant to travel to the country over security concerns. He also hoped to host Indian Premier League matches.
New Zealand have added fast bowler Brent Arnel to their side for the match against Bangladesh, that starts in Hamilton today. kshyam@thenational.ae
