Nassau County Stadium to get dismantled in six weeks

After hosting eight games of the ongoing T20 World Cup, the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, a temporary yet significant venue located in Eisenhower Park, Long Island, New York is set to be dismantled today (Friday) and it will take around six weeks for the process to be completed, report agencies.

Constructed in just five months, India's Group A fixture against co-hosts USA on Wednesday was the last game to be played at the venue.

Though the venue hosted only eight matches, it produced classic low-scoring thrillers with the highest successful chase being 111 runs only. Also, 137 was the highest total at the venue over the course of eight matches which was recorded by Canada against Ireland. One of the lowest totals successfully defended in New York was 119 by India against arch-rivals Pakistan.

The match between South Africa and the Netherlands also went down the wire as the Dutch had almost defended 103 runs. The Proteas lost six wickets in the chase and took 19 overs to gun down the total. Moreover, South Africa successfully defended 113 runs against Bangladesh winning the match by four runs.

As for the pitches, their fate is still uncertain. According to the International Cricket Council (ICC), it is up to the Nassau County authorities. "If they want to keep them and handle the required maintenance, they can," said an ICC official. Otherwise, the ICC will relocate the drop-in pitches, prepared in Florida with imported expertise from South Australia, which have been the subject of much discussion over the past two weeks, to a place where they will be needed.

No MLC games at Temporary Stadium?

There were plans to host a few Major League Cricket (MLC) games at the stadium, but the MLC authorities and their franchises were not too enthused by that prospect. While there may be a full-fledged cricket stadium going forward in the future, it is unlikely to be here. For the record, New York is the base for the Mumbai Indians team (MI NY) in the MLC, and the Ambanis are expected to build a new stadium in the near future.

Easy to chase or defend?

The pitches, which have been the talk of the cricket world for the last two weeks, have left the community puzzled over whether they favoured defending or chasing. On June 09, India successfully defended a modest 119 against Pakistan, and later, South Africa managed to stave off the Bangladesh challenge against their none-too-formidable total of 113. A day after that, Pakistan comfortably cruised to a target of 107 runs. However, on Wednesday, India struggled to chase 111 until SuryakumarYadav and ShivamDube secured the win for Rohit Sharma's side.

For the record, teams batting first have won three of the eight games played at the ground, while teams chasing have won five times. The average first-innings total was 108, with India recording the most successful chase by reaching 111 for three against the USA. Canada posted the highest total batting first, 137 for seven against Ireland, and defended it well, winning the game by 12 runs.

Penalty Drama: Fair or Not?

The India-USA match saw a controversial moment when the USA team was penalized five runs for exceeding the time limit between overs for the third time.

This penalty significantly impacted the chase, raising questions about the appropriateness of such sanctions and their potential to affect the flow of the game. USA coach Stuart Law believes the focus should be on maintaining a good pace of play, but questions linger about the impact on close finishes.