US Open T20 rising in popularity

KARACHI: Popularity of T20 cricket is fast spreading in the United States which can be gauged from the fact that the ninth edition of a tournament was recently organised in Florida which involved expenditure of $100,000.

As many as 14 teams from Canada, the UAE, and the West Indies participated in the event, named the US Open T20 tournament. In the final, US All Stars, the defending champions, were defeated by seven wickets by Somerset Cavaliers at the Central Broward Regional Park although they had the services of Dwayne and Darren Bravo.

Darren Bravo was the star of the tournament scoring 334. Darren had slammed an unbeaten 80 in the semi-final. Dwayne had scored unbeaten 56.The tournament was held by renowned cricket organiser Afzal Qureshi, who is of Pakistan origin.

Qureshi told ‘The News’ that it was the only T20 cricket tournament which had been approved internationally.

He said that Afghanistan cricket team had also been invited, but it could not participate because of visa issues. Qureshi said that he had established Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) in 2001 and since then had been working for the promotion of cricket there.

He said that CCUSA had organised its first event in 2008. Since then it has been organised annually. Now teams from abroad were taking part in it, he said.He said that next year the CCUSA would try to invite a team from Pakistan.

“The quality of cricket in the US Open is very high because of the foreign players taking part. We have had interest shown from players in Pakistan, India, West Indies, Australia, England and South Africa,” said the organiser.

The tournament, which is the only ICC approved event in North America, has attracted a number of international players. Qureshi said he intended to run a football tournament at the same time. “We are bringing football along as well under our umbrella and are looking towards a successful tournament.”