Sri Lanka and New Zealand will stage the first cricket matches on US soil between two ICC full members this weekend, a move officials hope will launch a US boom for the sport.
"The historic event will provide great exposure," USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty said. "We're very excited about the potential impact of this series for the growth and development of cricket in the United States."
Saturday and Sunday afternoon matches will be staged at Lauderhill's Central Broward Regional Park, the only ICC-approved venue in the United States.
The 20,000-capacity facility, which must still upgrade lighting to ICC standards in order to host night events, tried in vain to land a match ahead of the 2007 West Indies Cricket
World Cup.
But with an India property developer sponsoring the Pearls Cup T20 matches and Indian Premier League officials talking about staging US events as early as 2011, the US breakthrough could be only a hint of greater things to come.
"We'll be meeting with potential investors and event developers to keep building our momentum," USA Cricket chief executive Don Lockerbie said.
"Interest is already high and this is very encouraging.
"To grow the game of cricket in the USA, we need to have the best teams in the world play in our country. We want to demonstrate to the American public just how exciting the T20 format is."
More than 15 million people in the United States follow cricket and ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has said he sees "vast potential for the growth of the sport in the USA."
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