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The Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lauderhill, Florida in the United States of America. The stadium is owned by the Broward county.
The stadium is mainly used for hosting cricket matches although it has been used for hosting soccer matches, Australian Rules Football and rugby.
Central Broward Regional stadium has a capacity of 20,000 seats which includes 5,000 covered seats and an additional 15,000 seats.
History
The stadium was opened in November 2007 as a part of the $70 million county park complex maintained by the Broward County. It is the only cricket stadium to be certified by the International Cricket Council in the USA.
The first tournament of international stature to be held at the stadium was the MAQ International Cricket Tournament in the same year. The tournament involved former legends like Javed Miandad, Richie Richardson and Mohammad Azharuddin.
Major Matches
The first ICC recognised match held at the Central Broward Regional Park was the first of a two T20 international series involving New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2010. The second game was also held at the stadium.
The most high-profile match to be held at the stadium was a T20 encounter between West Indies and India held on 27th August 2016. West Indies scored 245/6 in their 20 overs with Evin Lewis scoring a ton off 49 balls and Johnson Charles scoring 79 off 33 balls.
India fell short of one run to win the match. Lokesh Rahul remained not out for India on 110 off 51 deliveries.
Controversies
The stadium has come under broad criticism for being underused. An article appeared in August 2009 in the South Florida Sun Sentinel which was titled, “Broward Built It, But Cricket Hasn’t Come”.
The article expressed the frustrations from the local community at the dwindling attendance figures drawn from cricket matches held at the stadium.
Another article appeared in the same newspaper in August 2011 which called the stadium ‘a monument to wasteful government spending’.
Recent Matches
The Central Broward Regional Park hosted four matches during the 2017 Caribbean Premier League. In the first of those matches, St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots won by 4 wickets after successfully chasing 124 set by Guyana Amazon Warriors.
