Key events
Hello to you David Bertram. Another OBOer in America.
“Morning! Interesting article on the pitch and stadium. I attended the game yesterday and transport is a bit annoying (welcome to NYC, getting to the MetLife is equally as annoying) but the outfield really stuck out. Very very slow and makes it difficult to score. Having said that, it was my friend’s first cricket game and he was hooked once the Dutch got SA 3-3. Despite the lack of scoring the drama was still there…”
Whisper it, but i’ve been enjoying the carnage the pitches have been offering up. Certainly keeps it interesting and is an antidote to the Sixageddon of the recent IPL.
I’m not the one having to bat on it though – OR AM I?
No – I’m not.
“I was at the SA vs Netherlands game yesterday” writes Andrew Cooper, “and the atmosphere was really nice, with many Indian and Pakistani fans among many other nationalities, hope the weather clears up for them today!”
“A pop-up stadium with a pitch that seems to have taken cricketing lessons from a trampoline. Cricket in New York – it’s like seeing a Bollywood musical on Broadway. Thanks to the vibrant South Asian diaspora, we’re witnessing this epic rivalry in the most unexpected of places.” Zain Malik amongst many others hoping this rain does the honourable thing and ****** off.
“Hey, ahm tryna play cricket here!”
A couple of things to note:
There are no floodlights at the Nassau Stadium so light could well become a factor.
The game will start to be reduced in overs in 30 minutes. 12.04pm local time.
Who’s got money on a five over smasheroo that captures America’s heart?
12:04 is the time my ov-ers were cut
Rain Stops Play. India are 8-0 after one over.
It looks clear in the distance so hopefully they aren’t off for long… As I type that it starts to hammer it down. Ah, so frustrating. Can everyone do a sun dance – on three? Ready?
1st over: India 8-0 (Sharma 8, Kohli 0) It’s gloomy and overcast in NYC but fine for now. Shaheen’s first ball is a (New) yorker that Rohit clips effortlessly for two. The crowd reach fever pitch – brilliant atmosphere. A dot ball follows. The outfield looked sluggish judging by the first ball. That’s one way to deal with that – S I X! Sharma picks Shaheen off his pads with panache and deposits the ball into the stands in front of square. What a shot. What a reaction from the crowd who are about 70/30 in India’s favour by rock of the eye and dent of the ear drum.
Shaheen pins Sharma on the pad with a full and swinging delivery, he appeals with arms outstretched but I think Rohit got a thick inside edge on this. Sure enough they don’t review and the replay shows it was slammed into the pad by the bat. Eight off the first over. And here comes the drizzle again…
Thanks for all your emails, great to hear from so many of you in far flung places. I’ll post more at the break, for now it is down to brass tacks. Rohit and Virat are scratching their guards and Shaheen Shah Afridi is prowling like a green lycra clad jaguar at the top of his mark. The countdown starts and Ravi Shastri SONICBOOMS on commentary. 5,4,3,2,1… Let’s PLAY!
Righto, the rain has relented and out come the players for the anthems!
“Greetings from Rainy Connecticut” – which could be the name of a Tom Waits song but is actually the title of an email from Ed in the US of A.
“Here in Connecticut this morning, I overheard a conversation between three India fans, one of whom claimed to have tickets to today’s match a hundred and fifty miles south of here but had decided not to go because of the rain. I am skeptical of this person’s honesty, but at least there were Americans talking about the World Cup, right?”
Let’s hope they were fibbing about the weather too!
“New US T20 fan watching from Corvallis, Oregon, where we’re used to rain delays! Perfect weather today though, maybe the next T20 World Cup here…”
Welcome aboard Christopher Hedstrom!
“Good afternoon James.”
Back atcha Krishnamoorthy V.
“India carries a psychological advantage over Pakistan. The poor record in World Cups will weigh heavily on them. In the end it is going to be a contest between who prevails Bumrah or Babar”
If the pitch is a snake pit then it becomes less about star performers and more about which side is able to adapt and cope best as a collective. Im intrigued to see those first few overs when they do make it out there.
The big question – how will the pitch play today?
The good news is it has stopped raining. The bad news – for those in the ground at least – is that there is barely any cover to shelter from the wet stuff when it does rain.
Uh oh 😟 Feeling very much for the fans in the open stands. For those in the UK, think of the Old Trafford party stand, and it’s like that almost everywhere except hospitality #t20USA #IndvPak pic.twitter.com/PszucXwwQe
— Alison Mitchell (@AlisonMitchell) June 9, 2024
Gah. It is spitting again in NYC so the start has been delayed again. If you are out there and looking forward to this epic match up then do drop me a line, the OBO is nowt without its followers and correspondents from far and wide.
You can email me or send a missive on social media @Jimbo_Cricket.
*A wee bit of fruity language on this for a Sunday afternoon.
“Afternoon James”
Good afternoon to you Guy Hornsby!
“Ravi Shastri may be out in the middle right now giving it the Michael Buffer, as he will, but it’s not unfair to say that it’d be a shock if Pakistan win this. But it’s not impossible either, and that’s why T20 is always uncertain. What no one wants is a drubbing, except perhaps India and their fans. If Pakistan can get off to a good start, anything is possible. It’s not going to be 200 v 200 here. Bring on the big show!”
Pakistan will get first use of the ball and do have the bowlers to blow any side away on their day. They’ll need to be at their best though, India’s batting card is formidable. I’ve just spotted Virat doing keepy uppies on the outfield and then getting his Fresh Prince of Bel Air on with a white suited Chris Gayle. He’ll be going up against Shaheen Shah Afridi very shortly – loins well and truly girded for that.
Teams: India are unchanged and Pakistan have made one switch after their shock super over loss to the hosts – Imad Wasim replaces Azam Khan.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Siraj
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir
Lot’s of pressure on Pakistan after their loss against the USA. India have dominated their ICC tournament head to heads thus far.
Pakistan win the toss and bowl!
It’s ‘TOSS TIME!’ Ravi Shastri booms from the middle! Fantastic hype work from the big man out in the middle. Babar Azam calls the coin correctly and sticks Rohit and his men in. Loud cheering, seems a great atmosphere inside the Nassau stadium. Swathes of green and blue and a decent decibel level, not least from Mr Shastri.
An India fan in front of our window with hands on his head as Babar won the toss. Pakistan fans jumping up and down with glee #IndvPak #t20USA #T20WorldCup Azam Khan is left out for Imad Wasim.
— Alison Mitchell (@AlisonMitchell) June 9, 2024
GOOD NEWS: It has stopped raining. We’ll have the toss in a few minutes and are going to start at 11am – 4pm here in blighty.
So many intriguing aspects to this match. First of all the location – the ICC clearly want to bowl over the American’s and cement cricket in the states – a largely untapped market but an increasingly interested one since the Major League Cricket tournament was established a couple of years ago. They’ve just pulled off the big coup of snaring Pat Cummins’ presence for the next four years, the Australian men’s Test captain has signed a deal with the San Francisco Unicorns up until 2027.
And yet, the stadium that Cricket’s top brass have spent millions constructing in Long Island’s Eisenhower Park isn’t there to stay as a lasting and usable memento, it’s being taken down in a few weeks’ time. Grumbling about that aside – some won’t be sad to see it go, at least not the teams who have had to bat on the drop in wicket. The pitches used have been unpredictable and seem to have more spice than a scotch bonnet heavy jambalaya. Low scores and bruised batters have been the story of the surfaces so far, with the ICC announcing they are ‘looking into’ the issue.
Oh. OK. It is currently raining at Nassau Stadium. The toss is confirmed to be delayed. I think it’s a steady drizzle and isn’t too bad. In fact there’s an umpire inspection in a few minutes.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the Big One. Sunday in the Big Apple. NYC. The City that never sleeps. New Yoik, New Yoik. It’s India v Pakistan – the fieriest rivalry in the game – in one of the greatest cities on earth (ok ok, about 1.5 hours down the road from Manhattan but you know, it is famously quite cramped there).
Our man on the ground, Andy Bull, has written this fantastic scene setter.
Most locals do not even know the match is happening, but the few who do are not talking about much else. It seems just about everyone who is anyone in the Pakistani- and Indian-American communities is going to be there and everyone else wants to know how they can join them.
Pretty much everyone I see asks me for a ticket,” said the USA Cricket chairman, Venu Pisike. The USA’s opening bowler Ali Khan, meanwhile, sighed: “Oh, man, don’t even go there. I’ve had to stop replying to the requests. I don’t even mess with the tickets for that match, it’s crazy.”
Never mind the actual match, you cannot get into the viewing party being hosted by the New York Mets at Citi Field. They’re expecting 27,000 along to watch the game on the big screen, while another 5,000 or so are due at a similar event a few miles from Eisenhower Park in Cedar Creek Park. That is before you start adding on all the people following the game in restaurants, bars and corner stores around the city.
The little town of Westbury has no idea what’s about to hit it. “We don’t know what to expect,” said the county executive, Bruce Blakeman, “but we’re told it’s going to be like the Super Bowl on steroids.”
A hundred extra police patrols have been laid on in the district and 300 local officers will be on duty at the ground, plus an undisclosed number of reinforcements from Suffolk County, the state police and FBI. They have got snipers on the nearby rooftops, SWAT teams on every gate, flatbed trucks blocking every route into the venue and a team of 50 officers monitoring “every inch of the venue” on cameras from a remote location.”
Play will begin in a little over 30 minutes, I’ll bring you news of the teams and toss any second. This should be quite the spectacle. Yeh – I’m talkin’ to you.