Nassau County International Cricket Stadium Gears Up For Marquee India Vs Pakistan Clash For T20 World Cup 2024
New Delhi: Just a month to go before the T20 World Cup 2024 kicks off in the USA, the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium is gearing up for the marquee India vs Pakistan clash as drop-in pitches were successfully installed. While four pitches will be prepared at the New York venue under the watchful eyes of Adelaide Oval Head Curator Damian Hough, the rest will be laid at the neighbouring facilities in Florida and Texas.
The pitches which were shipped from Adelaide last year, were being prepared in Florida since the previous year. Cultivated in native Tahoma 31 Bermuda grass, the pitches were nurtured by Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions and US-based sports turf experts LandTek Group.
The Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions team, headed by Hough, will remain at the New York venue overseeing the work and assist the ground crews in pitch maintenance throughout the World Cup. The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium will have 34000 seats, located at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, east of Manhattan.
“We couldn’t be happier,” Hough said. “Everything is going to plan, they (the pitches) are in real good condition and all of our benchmarks and measures that we take along the way are exceeding expectations.”
Out of 20 teams, nine will be playing at the New York venue with the most eagerly awaited contest being the IND vs PAK encounter. Hosts USA, neighbours Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Bangladesh are the other teams that will feature at the venue.
“We hope we have got a good T20 pitch, that has good pace, good bounce and (provides) value for shots,” Hough said. “You want the batters to be able to play shots all over the ground so that is our design and at the start our ambition was to produce pitches along those lines.”