T20 World Cup 2024: Your guide as cricket begins on Long Island
LONG ISLAND - Long Island hosted its first cricket match of the T20 World Cup between Sri Lanka and South Africa.
The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, which boasts 34,000 seats, was built from the ground up in a matter of months. The venue at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow will now host matches over the course of the next 12 days.
It's the first time the U.S. is playing host, with matches also being held in Florida, Texas and the Caribbean.
Tens of thousands of spectators will be in the stands on Long Island, with the captains of the India and Bangladesh teams already arriving in New York.
Officials detail security plans
Meanwhile, according to authorities, security will be tight.
Police say they've been monitoring threats since April, including a recent post circulating on social media that references the stadium in Nassau County and the date – June 9 – when the India-Pakistan game is set to be played.
"Know this, this will be one of the tightest securities that Nassau County has ever seen," said Patrick Ryder, commissioner of the Nassau County Police Department. "You will not get in this venue without the proper credentialing, ticketing or parking access that you have."
The majority of fans will park at Nassau Coliseum and take a shuttle to the stadium. Everyone who enters must have tickets and go through a metal detector. No bags will be allowed inside. There will also be a no-fly zone around Eisenhower Park during the 12-day tournament.
Officials say they are working with local state and federal agencies and plan to monitor areas around the stadium as well as potential soft targets.
What to know about cricket
Cricket is the second most-viewed sport in the world after soccer — India star Virat Kohli has 268 million Instagram followers — but it is only played by more than 200,000 Americans nationwide across more than 400 local leagues, according to USA Cricket, which oversees the men’s national cricket team.
Major League Cricket launched last year in the U.S. with six professional T20 teams, including a New York franchise that, for now, plays some games at a Dallas-area stadium also hosting World Cup matches.
T20 World Cup 2024 schedule
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The Associated Press wire services helped contribute to this report.