The raising of cricket’s profile in the United States of America is set to continue during the next three days with the T20 US Open, featuring Nottinghamshire all-rounder Steven Mullaney.
The 29-year-old Outlaw is being joined at the Central Broward Regional Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya.
Other former internationals taking part in the 32-team cricket extravaganza are former West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree and the Pakistani international duo of Saad Nasim and Aitzaz Cheema.
Roelof Van Der Merwe, the 31-year-old who played 13 One-Day Internationals in 2009/10, is the sole South African representative.
Mullaney, who will play for GN Euro World XI in the 32-team competition, hopes the tournament will help cricket take-off in the US.
“The USA is obviously a big market for cricket to try and get into," he said.
“Competitions like this - and the Cricket All Stars tournament that was played here recently - can only help with that.
“For me, to be able to go out to Florida and play cricket for three days, it’s obviously a bonus. I can’t wait to get stuck into the tournament now.”
The 32 teams involved in the competition’s seventh year will compete for €100,000 of total prize money with the winning team taking the first prize of €50,000. A combined crowd of 10,000 is anticipated over the course of the four days.
“We are all very excited about the upcoming tournament,” added T20 US Open Chairman and CEO Maq Qureshi.
“We have a fantastic group of individuals who have worked tirelessly to make this happen, and we are eagerly looking forward to hosting the 32 teams in sunny Florida for a great tournament.”
The 2015 season has seen dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.