Dallas to host T20 World Cup opener, SA to play three matches in New York

The opening game of this year’s Twenty20 World Cup will be held in Dallas with the final at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.

And the Proteas, who have been drawn in Group D with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Nepal, will play three of their matches in New York, at Eisenhower Park.

They’ll take on Sri Lanka (June 3), Netherlands (June 8) and Bangladesh (June 10) at the venue, before flying to the West Indies and the island of Jamaica where they’ll face Nepal in Kingston on June 14.

The Proteas’ last World Cup came to a crashing halt when they lost to the Netherlands.

The expanded 20-team tournament is being jointly held by the United States and the West Indies and will get under way on June 1 at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas, Texas, when the USA take on Canada.

First-time for USA

A total of 16 games will be held in the United States — the first time that a major international cricket tournament is held in the country.

A new venue in New York will host the big clash between India and Pakistan on Sunday, June 9 — one of eight games to be held at the 34,000 stadium being built in Nassau County.

Lauderhill in South Florida, the most established cricket venue in the USA, will host games featuring India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Defending champions England will begin their title defence on June 4 in Barbados against Scotland and 2022 finalists, Pakistan, will get under way when they play the USA in Dallas.

England will go up against traditional rivals Australia in Barbados on June 8.

‘Super Eights’

The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five, with the top two teams progressing to the ‘Super Eights’.

The Super Eight games will all be held in the Caribbean — in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The two top teams from each group in the Super Eights stage will progress to the semi-finals, which will be held in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on June 26/27. The final will be held in Barbados on June 29.

Draw for group stage:

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA

Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman

Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea

Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal