International Cricket Council Men's T20 World Cup coming to Nassau County, New York
EAST MEADOW, New York (WABC) -- A procession for a trophy took place in Nassau County on Tuesday to celebrate the progress of construction of a 34-thousand seat stadium, turning a field in Eisenhower Park into an international cricket stadium to host the World Cup in June.
"We will have fans from all over the world," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said.
Eight matches will be held in New York over 12 days. Tuesday's trophy parade was led by Chris Gayle, two-time T20 World Cup champion, of Jamaica.
"It's good to be here in Nassau as well for the first time to actually see the stadium, actually what it's going to be like," Gayle said.
The biggest match will be India versus Pakistan.
"A game that attracts a global audience of hundreds of millions and that had almost 2 million applications alone," Geoff Allardice, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, said.
Leaving little chance to get tickets for Nassau County residents like Joshua Jon of Albertson.
"I was not able to buy tickets because as soon as we went in, it was sold out," he said.
"We are working out now a plan to make some of those tickets available to the general public maybe through a lottery system," Blakeman said.
Blakeman's joint press conference with the International Cricket Council was many times overpowered by angry protesters.
Nassau and Suffolk Building Trades Council representing plumbers, carpenters, sheet metal workers, and laborers says talks with the International Cricket Council fell through to work on the project.
"This is atrocious. Our men should be here," Joe Squicciarini of Plumbers Local 200 said.
"Those are our members that are on the out of work list so those are currently individuals that don't have a job, looking over the fence at what's going on over here with guys from Canada and California and all over the place at the park that we grew up in," Vincent Alu of Laborers Local 66 said.
The International Cricket Council responded.
"We believe we're working well with everyone to make this a success for the county on all fronts and that includes with the laboring side," Brett Jones, CEO of T20 World Cup USA, said.
The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup takes place in June with 20 teams competing across 55 games across the United States and West Indies.
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