Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium, formerly Central Broward Regional Park and Central Broward Stadium, is a large county park in

Lauderhill, Florida Lauderhill, officially the City of Lauderhill, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census,the city's population was 74,482. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,01 ...

, and the only dedicated cricket stadium in the United States. It is owned and operated by Broward County. It opened on November 9, 2007, at a construction cost of $70 million. It is located at the corner of US 441 and State Road 838 (Sunrise Blvd.). The stadium was the first U.S.

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

pitch to receive certification by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

(ICC) to host international matches; it hosted its first international

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

series in 2010, featuring

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Sri Lanka. In September 2019, the stadium hosted the United States' first-ever One Day International (ODI) series, which included the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

' first ODI victory.

Main Event Field

Cricket

The Main Event Field was designed with

in mind. It features a large circular grass field, roughly 167 yards (153 meters) diameter. Surrounding it is a 5,000-seat stadium and large berms capable of holding 15,000 more. It also features stadium lighting and a luxury viewing area. It was the first venue in the United States officially certified by the

(ICC) for One Day International (ODI) play. The first organized cricket event held there was a

cricket tournament, the Martin Luther King Twenty20 Cricket Tournament (MLK T20), from January 18–20, 2008. The event featured local players from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. The first international tournament hosted was another Twenty20 tournament, the MAQ T20 International Cricket Tournament, on May 23–25, 2008. That event featured teams from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Pakistan, the West Indies, and the rest of the world, including former superstars such as

Javed Miandad Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI (Urdu: ; born 12 June 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: ), is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo desc ...

, Richie Richardson, and

Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...

. The park also hosted the first full cricket international matches on American soil, a two-match Twenty20 series between

and Sri Lanka, on May 22 and May 23 2010. The series was drawn 1-1, a low-scoring affair (the highest total by either team was New Zealand's 120/7 in the first game), with a healthy and supportive crowd, as well as the fine-quality facilities (allowing for the exception of substandard lighting, which resulted in the cancellation of an originally scheduled night match). On June 30 and July 1 2012, New Zealand and the West Indies played 2 T20 Internationals at this ground, with the Windies winning both matches convincingly. In 2016, the West Indies-based

Caribbean Premier League The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...

played multiple matches at the park during the second half of July. On August 2, 2016, India and the West Indies announced that they would play a two-match T20 series on August 27 and 28, marking India's first international matches on American soil, as an addendum to India's tour of the Caribbean. Ahead of the start of the series, Indian coach and retired star leg-spin bowler

Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...

said about the park, "I certainly didn't expect the facilities to be as good as what it is in the United States. I certainly felt that it could be a makeshift. I had heard about Florida and this ground, but very impressed with the facilities that we have seen today." Only one match produced a result, with the second match ending in a no result due to rain and a technical delay. In the first match of the series, India's

KL Rahul Kannanur Lokesh Rahul (born 18 April 1992) is an Indian international cricketer who currently is the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team in test cricket. He is a Right-handed batter and occasional wicketkeeper. He plays for Karnataka in ...

scored the second-fastest T20I century off only 46 balls, eventually finishing on 110 not out for the highest international score in the venue's history. The two teams also posted the highest international innings totals in the venue's history, with the West Indies winning by one run (245/6 off 20 overs against 244/4 off 20 overs) thanks to Evin Lewis' own century (100 off 49 balls). It also hosted two T20I matches between the West Indies and Bangladesh in August 2018. In 2019, it also played host to two of the three T20I matches in the T20I Series in the a tour of the West Indies by India. The first T20I held on August 3, 2019, was a low scoring match between the teams. India opted to field first and restricted West Indies to a total of 95. India struggled to get there but managed to win the match by 4 wickets. The second T20I, held on the next day was won by the Indian cricket team by 22 runs (D/L Method) in a match which had its second innings curtailed due to lightning and heavy rain. In September 2019, the venue hosted the United States Tri-Nation Series, part of the 2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2—marking the first One Day International (ODI) matches to ever be held in the United States, and the U.S. national team's first-ever ODI win.

Association Football

The Main Event Field began hosting the Floridians FC, a soccer team in the Premier Development League, in 2015. In 2016, The Main Event Field was also home of Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the now defunct North American Soccer League. The stadium was the home of

Storm FC Storm FC is an American soccer club based in Pembroke Pines, Florida member of the NPSL playing in the South Region - Sunshine Conference. The club was founded in 2013 and currently competes against Jacksonville Armada U23, Miami United, Orlando ...

of the NPSL during the 2021 season (postponed from the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Australian Rules Football

The Main Event Field was the home of the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids of the

United States Australian Football League The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is the governing body for Australian rules football in the United States. It was conceived in 1996 and organized in 1997. It is based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. As of 2011, there were over 1,00 ...

in 2008. In 2015 the venue hosted the 10th edition of the 49th Parallel Cup, an annual Australian Football match between the US and Canada.

Other sports

The mayor of Lauderhill, Richard J. Kaplan, sent a letter to ICC chief executive Dave Richardson in April 2013, stating that the council was looking at redeveloping the cricket stadium into a multi-sports facility, due to the lack of income and marquee events that have recently been held at the Field. It also hosted the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Sta ...

's home leg in their 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifier against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

on November 21, 2009. With a win in Uruguay in the first leg, the USA already secured its place in

with a 27–6 win. The Fort Lauderdale Barracudas of the

Stars Football League A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth mak ...

played their three home games at the park during the 2012 season. The league played all of its games at the stadium for the 2013 season.

Other amenities

The park also has two large artificial turf practice fields. They can be split into four

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

pitches, or combined into two

pitches. It also features standard playgrounds, a 1.5-mile walking trail, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

courts. A water park—Tropical Splash—opened in March 2008. The park is also home to the MLS Combine, the future stars of Major League Soccer since its inception in 2011.

List of centuries

One Day International centuries

The following table summarises the One-day International centuries scored at the site.

Twenty20 International centuries

The following table summarises the Twenty20 International centuries scored at the site.

International five-wicket hauls

A single five-wicket haul has been taken on the ground in international matches. Namibian bowler Zhivago Groenewald took five wickets for the cost of 20 runs against the

in a One Day International match in 2019.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 26.139959, -80.198689, type:landmark, display=title Australian rules football grounds Cricket grounds in the United States Rugby union stadiums in Florida Major League Lacrosse venues Parks in Broward County, Florida North American Soccer League stadiums Fort Lauderdale Eagles football Defunct National Premier Soccer League stadiums 2007 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 2007 Soccer venues in Florida Sports complexes in Florida Cricket in Florida