MOOSA Stadium
Masters USA Cricket – April 9-11, 2021 – Venue – Moosa Cricket Stadium, Pearland, TX
USA Cricket is blessed with brimming talent mostly from ex-pats from cricket playing nations across the globe. Cricket lovers will know that the first ever international cricket game was actually played in the US almost 200 years ago, in 1844 between the USA and Canada. Yet, there has been limited progress in the development of the game in the US and the emergence of the US Cricket Team as a force at the Associate level.
A lot of that can be put down to infrastructure or the lack thereof. Most club cricket in the US is played on clay pitches with jute matting, or worse still, concrete wickets with astroturf matting, the latter because of the lack of dedicated cricket grounds. The harsh reality in the US is that cricket grounds jostle for space with soccer and other outdoor sports and in general are a footnote in the operations manual for any Parks & Recreation department across any city, big or small. There are very few exceptions. What this has resulted in is, when the USA team competes at Associate level tournaments, they are hampered by the lack of exposure to turf wickets – their skill level allows them to compete very well, yet they are unable to cross the finish line consistently as they aren’t used to the complexities of playing on turf.
This is where the Smart Choice Musa Cricket stadium comes as a breath of fresh air, and gives a lot of hope for cricket in the US. The Musa stadium is a privately owned cricket facility that started with one man – Sakhi Muhammad’s vision and unstinting love for the game. The Musa complex is specifically tailored for the US cricket scene, and practical from a private investment perspective. Some of the key highlights of this first and only privately owned cricket stadium in the USA are:
- It has two grounds in the complex with turf wickets. The main ground is named after his father Musa, and the second ground is named after his mother Basques
- The stadium can host 2000 spectators
- The crowning pieces are the dressing rooms which have secure access. They have neat locker rooms with showers and even replete with a washer / dryer
- Apart from the nice player facilities, there are separate areas to host the umpires and commentators
- There are gazebos at the long-on / long-off areas that are family / picnic friendly so that families can have a good time when watching their spouses / kids play
- The sight screen has been built such that it does not impede viewing the game from the pavilion
- A lot of thought has gone into architecting an elevated platform for cameramen behind the sight screen so that viewers have the best possible user experience for live streamed games
- There are covered practice facilities to provide protection from the hot Texas weather with 2 concrete/astroturf wickets and two turf wickets
- It is strategically located 14 miles from the Houston Hobby airport and 16 miles from the Texas Medical center, and has ~65 acres of land available for further development
The Musa stadium has the distinction of having hosted several US national preparatory camps, hosting the national teams of Denmark and Italy which competed with a Smart Choice Invitational XI that the latter won, and hosting the Canadian team for a preparatory camp.
It is fitting that the first ever Masters Cricket USA national tournament from April 9-11, 2021 will be held in this setting. This tournament will see 56 cricketers over the age of 50 from 4 different regions in the USA competing for the championship in a state-of-the-art Musa stadium and for being selected in a 15 member USA team. Please follow your favorite team / player on masterscricketusa.com and the Masters Cricket USA FB page.
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