T2O Cricket World Cup Trophy visits New York Cricket Stadium.

USPA NEWS - On Tuesday March 19, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, along with the ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice who flew in from Dubai, led a honorary procession to the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium for the revealing of the T20 Cricket World Cup Trophy. The Cricket Stadium that is currently under construction will host for the first time in the USA eight T20 World Cup cricket matches beginning on June 3rd with the Sri Lanka vs South Africa match and culminating of June 12 with the USA vs India match. On June the biggest rivalry in cricket will see the penultimate match between archrival India vs Pakistan.
Also present for the show casing of the Trophy was two time West Indian T20 Cricket champion Chris Gayle, USA T20 cricket player Ali Khan, Nassau County Commissioner Pat Ryder, Fire Marshal Chief Mike Uttaro, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips and various Nassau County officials.
The T20 Cricket Trophy which was also on public display in the Roosevelt Field Mall later on Tuesday afternoon, will visit sixteen Countries over the next three months with special stops in Brasil, Argentia and Canada in order to increase the international fan base.

On March 19, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman gave an address at the T20 Cricket Stadium Nassau County while opening the T20 World Cup Trophy tour. Following is an excerpt of his address.
" Good morning I am Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, we are very happy to be here today, this is going to be a great sporting event, it is a world class event, it is one that have been held in many places but this is the first time here in the United States that we will have a world cup and I am very honored and please that Nassau County have been chosen as one of the Sites here in America and we will have here the number one game, the premiere game India vs Pakistan here on June 9 as well.
I want to thank our great Police Department led by Commissioner Pat Ryder, our Fire Marshal Chief Mike Uttaro"... "We also have two of our world class Athletes that will be performing this summer. I want to give a warm welcome to Chris Gayle from the West Indies a two time T20 Champion, we also want to welcome another great cricket Champion Ali Khan. I am very happy to be here with Geoff Allardice ICC Chief Executive who flew in from Dubai to be with us today.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman further stated and I quote: " We are in the process of constructing this wonderful stadium that will be here for the duration of the tournament, it is going to be a great venue for everyone to enjoy cricket . There will be so many Countries that will be here with their teams, we will have fans from all over the world. It will be an economic boom to the County and we are very proud to be hosting the event here... Our greatest asset are the people of Nassau and this is going to be a very exciting event for them".

On Tuesday March, 19 at the unveiling of the T20 World Cup Cricket Trophy was invited by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to give an address. Following are excerpts taken from said address.
" County Executive Blakeman thank you for the kind words, for the welcome, thank you for the extraordinary Trophy procession and thank you for such wonderful partners.
In Nassau we have found true partners for the ICC T20 World Cup, a partner that share our vision and ambition for the growth of cricket in the USA. The partner that did not balk at the idea of turning a field in Eisenhower Park into an International Cricket Stadium to host the World Cup in just a few months.
This is going to be the biggest ICC event ever with twenty teams from around the world competing across fifty-five games for the rights to be called World Champions. It is fantastic to stand here today and see our vision come to life in the form of the Nassau County International Cricket stadium and in just sixty-three days 34,000 people will be in here to witness Sri Kanka take on South Africa in the first of eight games that will be staged here.

Of course the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium will play host to what is arguably the biggest match in World Sports India vs Pakistan a game that attracts a global audience of hundreds of millions and haver over two million tickets applications alone.
It is wonderful to have Chris Gayle a two times T20 Cricket World Cup Champion with us today. He had the honor of lighting up the Empire State Building yesterday to celebrate the launch of the Trophy Tour for the event which will visit sixteen Countries over the next three months. He is joined by USA player Ali Khan who can be a household name here as he plays for the home team in the World Cup, as he looks ahead toward the Olympics games in 2028.
This stadium is the world first in cricket and the level of interest in being part of the event are huge with over 3 million tickets applications in the initial ballots. So I am delighted to confirm today that we worked closely with our partners to release more tickets to fifty-one of the fifty-five games. On the north side of this stadium will be some of the best hospitality suites in the world and I also release to the public today for all games.

I have goose bumps just standing here with two months of construction still to go so I can only imagine what it will be like here on the third of June. I like to thank the team behind us T20 Inc the local organizing committee... the build team Parker International, Populous, Arena Group Alchemy and all the others, as well as LandTek and Damian Hough who is overseeing the playing surface.
Finally I would like to thank the ICC Board whose vision and support of this project has been unwavering, as well as the ICC Management Team whose commitment and partnership with Nassau County has brought this to life.
If you have not already done so, I would urge you to go to tickets.t20worldcup.com and be part of making history in Nassau County, than you".
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman address and ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice address transcribed from recorded material by Earnest Weekes.