Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) has gotten approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to stage their ninth annual T20 cricket tournament.
The tournament which carries cash prizes totalling US$100,000 takes place from October 25 to 29 at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Mohammad Qureshi the chairman of CCUSA said: “We have been informed by ICC America’s official Eric Parthen that our tournament has been sanctioned by the ICC, so we will be going ahead with registration of players from all around world.”
The tournament, which is the only ICC approved event in North America has attracted a number of international players in the past. Now with the ICC sanctioning the tournament, players can feel free to take part and not face any issues with the world body.
With just over a month to go before the start of the tournament Qureshi is reporting that interest is very high. “We have had many applications from teams both here and abroad, wanting to take part in our tournament.
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 in the past and it has continued.”
Qureshi who has invested a lot of money in order to make this tournament a reality says that this year, he intends to run a football tournament at the same time. “We are also bringing football along as well under our umbrella and we are looking towards a successful tournament.”