Nassau residents getting first dibs on tickets to cricket World Cup events
The International Cricket Stadium, shown under construction in Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, will host a June 1 warmup match between Bangladesh and India. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Nassau residents will have an opportunity Wednesday to buy presale tickets to the inaugural event at the county's International Cricket Stadium in Eisenhower Park — a June 1 warmup match between a pair of the sport's traditional powers, Bangladesh and India.
The online ticket sale begins at 10 a.m. and residents will need a code, expected to be made available a few minutes before on social media and through the county email list, officials said Tuesday. It will be an opportunity for Long Island cricket fans to get a first crack at tickets, which for some of the most coveted matches have been resold for thousands of dollars.
The match will take place at 10:30 a.m. on June 1 at the park in East Meadow.
A total of 25,000 tickets will be available for residents, said Chris Boyle, spokesman for County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
Tickets go on sale to the general public Thursday.
"I am delighted that we have been able to negotiate an additional game on June 1 with India vs. Bangladesh," Blakeman said in a statement Tuesday. “Nassau residents will be given priority ticket access so that everyone has the opportunity to experience World Cup Cricket.”
The match will be the first time the temporary, 34,000-seat stadium erected in the county park will host a public audience ahead of the official start to the Men’s T20 World Cup, among the largest sporting events in the world.
Nassau is scheduled to host eight World Cup matches over 11 days beginning on June 3. Among the most popular matches is one scheduled for June 9 when longtime cricket rivals India and Pakistan square off.
Some Long Island fans had complained there were no special provisions for locals.
Blakeman agreed last October for the International Cricket Council to build the temporary stadium on 19 acres of county-owned property on Field 6 in Eisenhower Park.
The ICC put global television viewership for tournament at over 1 billion.
Nearly 4 million people signed up for an online lottery in February for tournament tickets at venues across the United States and the Caribbean.
The stadium with be dismantled after the tournament. The ICC and county agreed to a deadline of July 31 for deconstruction to be completed.
Presale tickets are being sold on the T20 World Cup website.
Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.
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