Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) has done it again with an injection of US$2B into the development of cricket. This was announced by chairman of Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) Mahammad Qureshi during his address to the gathering at the US Hall of Fame function on Saturday night at Queens in New York.
The successful businessman has partnered with Burkhiya Sports Group to develop cricket in America, Canada, Pakistan and the West Indies. This injection will come in the form of the newest format of the game called Maq Cricket59 which will debut in St. Maarten on November 8 and will be followed by matches in Pakistan from November 14.
President of the Burkhiya Sports Group Nauman Khan Azeemi says he is very happy with the partnership with CCUSA and looking forward to Transforming cricket in Pakistan. “I am delighted to work with Mahammad Qureshi in terms of developing cricket in Pakistan and we are going to start with a tournament in my home city of Faisalabad. We are going to transform cricket in Pakistan and make a difference.”
The Maq Cricket59 will bowl off in St. Maarten with the Adam Sanford Management Group taking care of the tournament which will consist of five teams and carry of first prize of US$10,000. In addition to this there will also be other incentives for the players.
The Maq Cricket59 bandwagon will then make an appearance in Trinidad and then Tobago as CCUSA looks to improve cricket in those parts as well. A date will be set soon to have this tournament played in Trinidad where CCUSA will be teaming up with the sports management group Cricket360.
The Maq Cricket59 will be played in every state in the United States, this is the hope and aspiration of Qureshi. “We want to stage this tournament in every state at the local level. We have investors coming on board to ensure this target is reached. Our thinking is that we will be able to unearth great cricketing talent from all over with the goal of taking the best players to our marquee tournament which is the US Open T20.”
Qureshi said that in addition to hosting the tournament his group will also be building cricket grounds around the US and hosting developmental camps as well. “I always say that we are big supporters of USA Cricket and we are doing all of this so that our national set up will be provided with better quality and quantity of players.
“We are assisting the West Indies in their development because of our close links to our brother in the Caribbean and member of CCUSA Vinode Mamchan. I myself come from Pakistan a country I love and I want to give back to Pakistan hence we are doing this. We also have close links to Canadian cricket and we are happy to be assisting in the development there as well.”
