T20 World Cup 2024 – Lauderhill quickly washes away questions over global readiness

On a smaller level, however, some of what happened is equally embarrassing. From 8.30 am on Friday, the day Florida starts to host three games in a row, there were only 30 minutes of serious showers – we can’t guarantee that there was no unusual light outside of this, but we are talking about proper rain here – at the Central Broward Regional Park Turf Ground. And yet, we never had to play on Friday or Saturday. Sunday looks to sell again, as some parts of the field are still soft.

It is difficult to explain that there is no game despite the rain falling for die-hard cricket fans, let alone in America, or even outsiders here who have many other options. If one side of the soil is light it means that the water flow in one part of the soil is good, but not so good in the other. This is hurricane season in Florida and, despite the unprecedented amount of rain we received here last week, not fixing the pipeline before the World Cup should be unacceptable.

Usually, when the water is bad, cricket fields cover the entire playing area, but here they have no covers beyond the square and the bowlers’ runs. That, for the World Cup, does not look good.

Usually, when the water is bad, cricket fields cover the entire playing area, but here they have no covers beyond the square and the bowlers’ runs. That, for the World Cup, does not look good. He wonders how the ICC’s commercial partners feel about this.

This is not to belittle the record rainfall the venue received in the days leading up to the games. There was flooding in and around southern Florida, resulting in heavy losses. Cricket is nothing in comparison. The players on the ground tried their best on this day, but there was no way the referees, who are in charge of the safety of the players, could not play.

Again it’s not about the effort but the equipment. Not that it would affect the games, but the Super Sopper ran out of gas on Friday afternoon (insert funny joke about the USA running out of gas) and broke down, only to be repaired late in the evening. That Broward County, which owns the stadium, doesn’t have much coverage should not come as news to the ICC. That should be part of the preparations.

All of this left the teams a little frustrated. For Pakistan, the 2nd seed in Group A, it was important that the matches on Friday and Sunday continue if they are to have a chance to advance to the Super Eight. For India, who played all their matches under New York’s treacherous batting conditions, it was an opportunity to get used to better conditions ahead of the most important matches. In Canada, the USA and Ireland, it was another day in the bright light before they were forgotten for another two years.

“We were looking forward to playing the game and we were expecting better batting conditions than what we got in New York. So as a team I think it was important that we get a game but, again, something we can’t do. control, we don’t control. So, it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a game here.”

India will now go from a non-cricket week to playing three Super Eight matches in five days on three different Caribbean islands. Rathour can just shrug his shoulders and say it’s not right.

“I think that in the future the ICC will review this, that the ground should be completely covered, so as long as the rain stops, we can play the game.”

Imad Wasim from Pakistan

There has been informal talk among people at the ICC about swapping the 2028 T20 World Cup in England for this one, but it was not the first thing because England’s summer was scheduled decades earlier. And there will never be a “right time” to break so the ICC can’t be blamed for pushing this even if they do it in poor playing conditions.

It would be hard to evoke Oscar Wilde’s words about good intentions and worst results, but surely the ICC can’t be happy about what happened over the weekend in Florida?