Ireland’s T20 World Cup campaign got off to a disappointing start this week, as they fell to defeat in their opener against India in New York.
This is Ireland’s eighth time competing in the tournament and the first time the tournament has been held in the United States.
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The US are co-hosting the World Cup with the West Indies, who previously held the event in 2010.
With mere days having passed in the tournament, the US venues are already coming in for criticism, with the venue for Ireland’s opening defeat to India coming under particular scrutiny in the aftermath of the game.
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Ireland Cricket: Pitch at New York T20 venue questioned
The venue for Wednesday’s meeting of India and Ireland at the T20 World Cup was a temporary structure built on Long Island in New York.
The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium will be dismantled after its eight group-stage games. Its structure uses some of the same grandstands used for last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix – but that is not the most controversial element of the stadium’s design.
For the stadium’s grass, the organisers have utilised a “drop-in pitch,” prepared in Florida with Tahoma bermudagrass before being transported to the venue. It will be replaced by artificial grass after the T20 World Cup.
It’s been an enormous operation to get the stadium operational in the first place and, after Ireland’s game against India on Wednesday, the pitch came in for heavy criticism from two prominent figures in English cricket.
The pitch’s uneven surface led to wild variations in bounce of the ball – which also led to a few players taking blows to the body after unpredictable leaps from the ball. India’s captain Rohit Sharma retired from the game through injury after one such delivery.
Former England coach Andy Flower would slam the surface after the game’s conclusion, saying it posed a danger to both sides:
I’ve got to say that is not a good surface to play international cricket on. It’s bordering on dangerous.
We saw the ball bouncing from a length both ways, keeping low occasionally but in the main bouncing unusually high and striking people on the thumb, the gloves, the helmet.
It proved [to be] very, very difficult batting conditions for any side.
His feelings were echoed by Michael Vaughan, who suggested that the farcical nature of the games at Nassau County would undo much of the good work done promoting cricket in the US by hosting the T20 World Cup there.
Trying to sell the game in the States is great…love it. But for players to have to play on this sub-standard surface in New York is unacceptable.
You work so hard to make it to the World Cup then have to play on this.
Unfortunately for Ireland, they will have to return to the venue on Friday for their game against Canada.
The stadium is set to host five further group stage games, including the huge clash between India and Pakistan on Sunday.
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