Cricket: Bright start for Florida ticket sales

The first few thousand tickets for New Zealand's three-game Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka in Florida were snapped up within two days this week.

The series in Lauderhill, about 50km from Miami, is the first step in New Zealand Cricket's partnership with USA Cricket, the games listed for May 20-23.

The aim is to tap into an untested market loaded with subcontinent and West Indian communities.

NZC operations manager Tim Murdoch, commercial manager Peter Dwan and match manager Owen Harrison are in Miami working with American officials.. Turf manager Jarrod Carter is flying there this weekend to oversee pitch preparation.

"We really have no idea about the degree of interest," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said yesterday. "We've got a long way to go but it's still two weeks out and there's really been very little promotion on the ground. That's what the guys in the US are pulling together at the moment."

Former New Zealand captain, now International Cricket Council match referee Jeff Crowe lives in Miami. He has offered advice from an ICC perspective.

It's accepted there might be a short-term loss but it's hoped there will be long-term financial and cricket benefits out of the association.

One longshot is the US applying, with NZC backing, to host the Champions Trophy ODI tournament in 2013. The ICC is calling for expressions of interest shortly.

England had been earmarked as hosts, but that is an Ashes year, which will take priority. Vaughan said there were significant hurdles. As an example, two grounds in proximity are a minimum ICC requirement and Florida has the only one in the US.

An option to constructing a second one in that state was developing two elsewhere, such as New York. A decision is expected soon on whether to push ahead with the bid.