NZC helps US cricket develop

One of the world's smallest nations, New Zealand, is giving one of the largest, the United States, a helping hand when it comes to cricket.

The roles are reversed when it comes to the game with the United States, which is only getting established in the cricket world while New Zealand is a major participant.

However, NZC and USACA yesterday announced the start of formal discussions toward establishing a strategic partnership agreement in the near future.

That could ultimately see the Black Caps playing international matches in the United States during the New Zealand winter.

The USACA called for expressions of interest from possible commercial partners and NZC is the first to be officially approved by the USACA.

NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said it was interesting to note that the United States had about 15,000 registered adult players, which was not that much fewer than New Zealand.

"That is the largest of any associate country to the ICC but they do not have any junior base."

Vaughan said cricket was played in several pockets of the country including the northeast around New York, plus Michigan and Detroit and the south in Florida and California. Most of the participants were expat Asians, Europeans or from the Caribbean.

Significantly, Vaughan said, the website traffic through sites such as Cricinfo and the ICC was third-largest from the US, well behind India but only just from the United Kingdom.

Vaughan said NZC could offer the tools to help with the game at grass roots, such as coaching programmes and education.

A step in that direction will be taken in early January when the United States under-19 team, which qualified for the ICC World Cup in New Zealand, will be taken under their wing by NZC on their arrival and assisted with some coaching and preparation.

In return, matches could be played out of New Zealand's season in the United States that could bring fresh commercial opportunities.

"Apart from our inbound tours and the funds distributed from the ICC, that is basically all we generate," said Vaughan.

"In these changing times with the Indian Premier League, diversifying revenue makes a lot of strategic sense."

Vaughan said there was a ground at Lauderhill in Florida, about 30 minutes from Miami which already had ICC ground certification to host matches.

"It still needs a bit of work with some of the facilities but the ground looks great."

- © Fairfax NZ News