Highly respected chairman of Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) Mahammad Qureshi says he is in full support of the USA Cricket Minor League but is calling for the authorities to ensure there is more action on turf pitches.
“We welcome this initiative of the Minor League and is in full support of it. We think that it will benefit cricket in America because more and more players will get to play the game at a good level. The more cricket the players get in, the better for them and we will see an improvement in the quality of play.”
Qureshi who has spent millions in developing the US Open T20 says his tournament will also benefit because players of better quality will be picked up by team owners to play at the annual event. He had one bit of advice for the organisers of the Minor League though, saying that they needed to have matches on turf pitches.
“In order for the cricketers to develop properly you need them playing on turf pitches. We don’t see that happening at the moment. There were two matches on the past weekend that had to be cancelled in Florida because they were carded for astro-turf and it was not up to standard. When our players are presented with these conditions it will not do anything for them in a positive manner.
“Our players are run the risk of being damaged while playing on these surfaces. If we want to compete with the world, we have to give them the right conditions.” Qureshi himself has built the first set of turf pitches at his private cricket ground in Delray Beach called the Maq Cricket Stadium. This was the first cricket stadium in South Florida and then came the Central Broward Regional Park. Qureshi had a major hand in getting the County to build the Central Broward Regional Park.
He also had a ground in Orlando in Kissimmee with two turf pitches but this was closed off because locals destroyed it.
