Team USA Ireland rain Cricket World Cup Broward
Team USA vs. Ireland is washed out at Broward Stadium, but USA still moves on to the Super 8.
LAUDERHILL — Another day at Broward Stadium, another World Cup cricket washout.
The USA-Ireland match slated for 10:30 a.m. was canceled due to wet conditions.
Torrential rain started at 7:30 a.m. and stopped at 8:30 a.m., but the field was too wet to play and the wait was on.
The rainout announcement was made at 1:45 p.m. amid another downpour and actually served the USA well.
It was scored a draw, with the Americans gaining 1 point and officially advancing to the Super 8 stage in the West Indies and eliminating powerhouse Pakistan.
It wasn’t the way the Americans, in their very first World Cup appearance, had wanted to move on, but much of the crowd had stayed away because of the rain forecasts. No one wanted to show up, pay the high parking fees and then be asked to leave.
As about 1,000 fans sat rather placidly in the seats, the grounds crew tried to dry the field with all sorts of squeegee-type equipment and air blowers.
The three days of downpours that created a state emergency were too much for the Broward cricket grounds to handle. A conspiracy theory loomed among some in the stands the ICC (International Cricket Council) was in no rush to play the game so as to keep USA alive into the last 8.
Scattered fans yelled “Let’s play” as an ICC umpire would walk near the bleachers. Part of the fan contingent were 12 members of the Palm Beach Titans — a club that plays at John Prince Park.
The first-ever World Cup cricket match in Florida was supposed to have occurred Tuesday but Nepal-Sri Lanka got washed away.
Weather permitting, the first-ever World Cup match in Florida will be Saturday morning when India faces Canada. India, a world power, beat the Americans in New York. India coaches and some staff visited Yankee Stadium for a game while in New York.
Baseball is a derivative of cricket, which originated in Great Britain.
India coach T Dilip said it was a good experience.
“It’s fantastic because I love (baseball),” Dilip said. “There are certain things which I have been using from pretty long because back in there I had an opportunity to work with Mike King with an Australian team. He was a baseball player so quite a few inputs from that game have really helped me in cricket.”
But cricket needs weather and there’s no assurance Saturday happens either.
“Regarding this stadium we played earlier so we are slightly aware of the conditions,” Dilip said. “But the weather is challenging here. You don’t know about when the rain comes or not. We have been prepared for all these things. So, we are focusing on what we can control. We want a game to happen.”