Texas venue to be the new home of USA Cricket and possible T20 World Cup host

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RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

VIDEO SHOWS: USA CRICKET NEWS CONFERENCE AS WELL AS AERIAL SHOTS OF FUTURE HOME OF NATIONAL CRICKET FACILITY

SHOWS: LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 18, 2020 (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE)(English) NEW CONFERENCE MODERATOR, ANDREW LEONARD, SAYING:

"I'm sure you've already seen the exciting news today. It's a huge day for cricket in America. Major League Cricket is indeed coming to Grand Prairie, Texas. Major League Cricket (MLC) has received approval from the City of Grand Prairie on a long-term lease agreement to begin an extensive redevelopment of AirHogs Stadium as the organization's first major cricket stadium in the United States. That's from the City of Grand Prairie and redevelop the current 5,400-seat facility into a world-class dedicated facility that will open in 2022."

GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (MAJOR LEAGUE CRICKET-ACCESS ALL)

2. AERIAL SHOT OF AIRHOGS STADIUM, THE FUTURE LOCATION OF THE NEW CRICKET FACILITY

GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 18, 2020)(REUTERS-ACCESS ALL)

3. (SOUNDBITE)(English) GRAND PRAIRIE MAYOR, RON JENSEN, SAYING:

"It's going to be fun. I tell you. Similar to baseball. A lot of the same things go on in it. Pitchers have similar curve balls and all that and it's just going to be a lot of fun."

GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (MAJOR LEAGUE CRICKET-ACCESS ALL)

4. PROMOTIONAL VIDEO OF NEW NATIONAL CRICKET FACILITY

LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 18, 2020 (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL)

5. (SOUNDBITE)(English) IAN HIGGINS, CEO, USA CRICKET

"We're looking to host international matches, international events, and a huge Twenty20 Tournament that has huge scale and global reach and appeal and were looking to host that at this particular venue which will lift the standards of cricket in this country and it will increase the amount of opportunities that fans of this sport wish to engage with it in this country."

6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) PARAAG MARATHE, CHAIRMAN, USA CRICKET SAYING

"This is the second largest sport in the world that we are bringing to the largest media market in the world and that sentence alone, it doesn't matter if it's cricket or it's widget ball or whatever it is that just smells of opportunity, right? And that's why I'm really excited about today and about where we're going."

STORY: An empty minor league baseball stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas will become a major center for developing cricket in the United States, USA Cricket said Wednesday (November 18).

"Major League Cricket (MLC) has received approval from the City of Grand Prairie on a long-term lease agreement to begin an extensive redevelopment of AirHogs Stadium as the organization's first major cricket stadium in the United States," USA Cricket announced in a virtual news conference.

Major League Cricket is also organizing a T20 tournament set for 2022 and has announced a goal of bringing the T20 World Cup to the United States as part of a joint bid with Cricket West Indies.

The redeveloped stadium is slated to be ready for cricket in Spring 2022, but will also serve as a key high performance center for the USA Cricket Men's and Women's National Teams and other key youth cricket squads during the interim.

The stadium currently holds over 5,000 seats and is to be expanded to 8,000 in the redevelopment plan.

Major League Cricket is set to launch in 2021 and feature six teams from around the U.S. with world-class players competing alongside the best domestic players in the country.

Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen, who told reporters he had only seen cricket being played in a park on a trip to London, welcomed the new venture as well.

"It's going to be fun. I tell you. Similar to baseball. A lot of the same things go on in it. Pitchers have similar curve balls and all that and it's just going to be a lot of fun."

(Production: Peter Bullock)