Sri Lanka in their visit to the United States of America in the aftermath of the T20 World Cup will play New Zealand in a 3 T20 match series in a bid to lead the way into the potentially lucrative United States cricket market in May this year.

Nishantha Ranatunga

“This “New Strategic Venture” formed with USA Cricket will be of commercial benefit to both parties” said Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga to the Sunday Times. Ranatunga confirmed that the games between the New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be played in Lauderhill in the sunshine state in May.

Meanwhile AFP reported that New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Justin Vaughan confirming that he was in discussions with Sri Lanka about playing a series against Sri Lanka following the ICC World Twenty20 championship as New Zealand looked to attract new investment into the sport.

"It is widely accepted there is significant commercial opportunity for cricket within the USA market," he said. The Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan are also exploring the possibility of staging games in the United States.

IPL chairman Lalit Modi held talks earlier this week with the chief executive of USA Cricket, Donald Lockerbie, to discuss taking the IPL to North America and allowing top American cricketers to play in the IPL.

The IPL wants the league’s franchise teams to begin playing in America as early as 2011.
Pakistan, which has become increasingly isolated as a cricketing nation due to security problems, also said this week it was in talks with USA Cricket.