After a dry first half of Thursday, Florida’s cricket chances improved. Lauderhill is hosting three T20 World Cup Group A matches in three days, with two of those matches being very important for the host nations, Pakistan and the United States. Not to be overlooked are Canada and Ireland, who are still in the competition. However, the United States will advance to the Super Eight as the second team from Group A if the opening game between Ireland and the United States is cancelled.
Teams, production crews, and commentators arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday following the cancellation of numerous flights into Miami and Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. Although bad weather was still causing aircraft delays along the way, Fort Lauderdale itself had held out until late afternoon. The evening rain was predicted to subside by night, and on Friday morning, some showers were predicted to occur between 9 and 11 a.m. Warnings of flash flooding for a wider area remained in effect.
Nonetheless, there was reason for hope given the actual situation. The Ireland all-rounder Mark Adair was impressed by what he observed. “I don’t think there was too many people who came to leave the hotel, but no, at the ground today, it was actually remarkably dry,” Adair stated. “I think there’s still wet patches over the far side of the ground but you know considering what the place has been through 24 hours before I think the place is looking pretty good.”
Steven Taylor, the opening batter for the United States who hails from Florida, also mentioned how well the ground drains. “Growing up here at the stadium, it has always had a nice drainage,” Taylor stated. “Therefore, we always hope that there will be cricket after it stops raining the next day. Still, the weather cannot be stopped. Therefore, we just need to deal with whatever comes up.”
The USA’s left-arm fast bowler, Saurabh Netravalkar, stated that they were getting ready as if the game will proceed according to plan. Netravalkar stated, “To be honest, I haven’t given the weather any thought at all,” just hours before departing New York on Wednesday night. “Although we can manage the weather, we should anticipate a lengthy game and do everything in our power to win, as even Ireland is a formidable opponent. We are seeing and hearing about the rain right now. Despite their two losses, they are a strong team.
The USA will qualify if they defeat Ireland or receive one point from the game. Pakistan is praying that no team scores more than four points after their earlier losses to the USA and India. Ireland must defeat the United States and then defeat Ireland on Sunday in order for Pakistan to have any chance of winning. Ireland will give themselves a chance if they win both of their games against Pakistan and the United States, but their net run rate does not appear to be very healthy. In order for Canada, who defeated Ireland earlier, to have a chance of moving forward if they defeat India on Saturday, the USA must lose to Ireland.