Morrisville’s Church Street Park has already hosted a cricket World Cup qualifying tournament and has drawn praise as one of the top facilities in the country for the sport.
Thursday, it took another step toward becoming a world-class venue with the announcement of a multimillion dollar expansion project, funded by a public-private partnership between the Town of Morrisville and Major League Cricket.
Among the upgrades are more than 2,000 permanent seats, which will increase the park’s capacity to over 3,500, a state-of-the-air broadcast infrastructure, additional parking and LED-illuminated natural and artificial turf practice fields and nets.
The enhancements will allow Church Street Park to serve as a flagship facility for USA Cricket’s national team matches and training camps. It would also meet specifications necessary to host games in the 2024 T20 Men’s World Cup, an event co-hosted by the U.S. and West Indies.
The American host venues are expected to be announced later this year. Work on improvements will begin soon and is scheduled to be completed by spring 2023.
“The Town of Morrisville has embraced cricket for its community over many years, with Church Street Park a home for the sport since 2015,” said Vijay Srinivasan, co-founder, Major League Cricket. “These upgrades will provide fantastic facilities for continued community play, USA Cricket’s national teams and for future Major League and international cricket events.”
In addition to hosting an Americas Subregional World Cup qualifier involving teams from the U.S, Canada, Belize and Panama in 2018 and local play in the Triangle Cricket League, Church Street Park is also home to the Morrisville Cardinals of Minor League Cricket.
The venue was the site of Minor League Cricket’s inaugural championship final last fall, with more than 3,000 fans in attendance to see the Silicon Valley Strikers secure the league’s first title.
“The passion for cricket is strong in the greater Morrisville region,” Morrisville mayor TJ Cawley said. “This partnership with Major League Cricket provides additional amenities that support expanded use of the park, beyond cricket, for all residents. We look forward to our town hosting world-class cricket that will bring thousands of visitors to the region each year and put Morrisville firmly on the map as one of the premier professional cricket venues in America.”