Guyanese in forefront of North American World Cup cricket
By Oscar Ramjeet in Florida
Stabroek News
June 2, 2004
Guyanese are in the forefront of North American cricket leading to the World Cup in 2007.
Four Guyanese cricketers participated in the first ever International Cricket Council (ICC)-sanctioned cricket match which ended on Sunday in South Florida, USA.
The Guyanese are Clayton Lambert, former West Indies opening batsman and Zamin Amin, who are in the USA squad; and former Guyana opening batsman Nicholas de Groot and former middle-order batsman Sunil Dhaniram who are in the Canadian team.
In the three-day match which started on May 28, the USA national side opposed the Canada National team in a match which is a booster leading to the 2007 World Cup. The USA recently qualified to participate in the 12-nation tournament. Canada took part in the last encounter in South Africa.
Former West Indies and Guyana opening batsman, Faoud Bacchus, is the coach for the USA team. Former world-record holder Lance Gibbs, another Guyanese, is chairman of the USA/Broward/Lauderhill World Cup 2007 Host Committee.
Lauderhill in South Florida is a leading candidate to matches for the 2007 competition and Gibbs has pledged to use his expertise to host international teams.
Meanwhile, ICC Regional Development Officer for the Americas, Grant Dugmore said cricket has the potential to grow in the Americas, despite the fact that it still faces competition from five other leading sports, basketball, baseball, national football, ice hockey and soccer.
Although cricket is not a very popular sport in the United States, it is the second most-watched sporting event throughout the world, and the ICC has announced that it is increasing its efforts at promoting cricket in the USA through its 'Project USA' initiative.
The council has committed over two million dollars to help the US players.
Mayor of Lauderhill, Richard Kaplan; ICC Director for the Americas, Martin Vieira; and Gladstone Danity, President of the USA Cricket Association spoke at a brief ceremony before the commencement of the game.