T20 World Cup: USA wants to host ICC tournament
- Published
West Indies played India in Florida in 2019
USA Cricket hopes the United States' success in hosting the football World Cup in 1994 can help its bid to stage the T20 World Cup.
The US has joined forces with West Indies in an attempt to stage an International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament from 2023 onwards.
More than 3.5m fans attended matches at USA 94, a World Cup record., external
"If you played in the USA, every venue would be sold out," said USA Cricket chief executive Iain Higgins.
"Other sports have used their major events as catalysts for growth in non-traditional markets."
The US gained one-day international status at the beginning of 2019 and beat Scotland, external in December.
Higgins said the US wants to gain Test status within the next decade.
"It's our objective to have a team that's competing with full members of the ICC in the short term, and it's our objective to become a full member of the ICC in the next 10 years," he said.
"On-field performance, as we saw with Ireland and Afghanistan, is going to be a real critical part of the assessment as to whether we're ready to play a role at that level."
Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, has hosted six one-day internationals and 10 Twenty20s, and is scheduled to stage two T20s between West Indies and South Africa in August.
Higgins has identified several other areas where the US can prove itself worthy of a place at cricket's top table.
"One would be to persuade the ICC to be brave enough to bring a T20 World Cup to the USA," he said.
"I am confident that we will have great quality venues that are capable of scaling up and scaling down for ICC events."
Those venues form part of plans for the introduction of a T20 league in the US.
"The plan is to have at least six venues in this country that are capable of hosting international matches," said Higgins.
"When you look at the number of travelling fans from the US to the last two World Cups, it shows an enormous appetite for cricket.
"Imagine India playing Pakistan in a T20 World Cup in the US - you could not build a venue big enough.
"When we eventually get to present to the ICC, they will be pleased and we will be able to satisfy that they should be ready to entrust us with one of their significant world events."