The $70 million Central Broward Regional Park was purpose-built for cricket when it first opened, in 2008. It was US crickets crown jewel, an oasis in a land starved of turf-pitch stadium facilities.Before long, though, the venue took the shape of a white elephant, in the words of a hit piece in the areas major newspaper, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. After it hosted only two revenue-generating cricket events featuring Full Members in its first seven years, restlessness from Broward County management understandably set in, and as a result the facility has begun creeping towards repurposing itself for other sporting tenants, chiefly soccer.At the entrance to the park there are signs hawking sign-ups for FCB Escola, the summer soccer school run by FC Barcelona that has been the chief provider of rental revenue at the stadium for the last several years. Inside the pavilion there are no posters of cricketing icons who have graced the CBRP but framed images of Messi, Neymar, Iniesta and Suarez.Most recently the second-division soccer franchise Fort Lauderdale Strikers announced their relocation from Lockhart Stadium on the north side of Fort Lauderdale to the CBRP, which offers them a more central and upgraded location. They are the main tenant at the ground now. The cricket square was dug up in 2013 and moved 20 yards north to accommodate soccer, not the other way around. All signs point to the realisation that cricket is no longer what the facility is for.Much work had to be done on the pitch and outfield just to get it in shape to host cricket matches for the CPL this weekend. Auckland-based pitch consultant Mark Perham was brought in from Auckland to oversee the preparation of the pitch. A weed-filled outfield also needed to be worked on significantly after recent soccer use to get it back to looking green and clean.This weekend is an opportunity to show fans the CBRP has not been lost to soccer. CPL organisers have made it known that they want to play at the venue every year, and it will take a regular commitment such as that to deter a complete repurposing of the facility for soccer. CPL chief executive Damien ODonohoe has made it perfectly clear, though, that he wants a series of sell-out crowds to make return visits worthwhile.CPL administrators are also confident that the product theyre putting out will be better than that offered by last years Cricket All-Stars roadshow. The cheapest ticket in Lauderhill can be bought for US$23, with two-thirds of tickets priced at $30 or less. The cheapest Cricket All-Stars ticket was $50, though more than 75% of seats were priced at $100 or higher. Tom Moody, the CPLs international director of cricket, says not only is the event more affordable than the All-Stars, but it will be a better product.With all due respect to the Masters competition, youre really looking down memory lane and enjoying the spectacle but from a different position in the seat, Moody said. Youre sitting back and admiring some of the greats of the game that have played over the last couple of decades.You see one form where youre looking back and admiring some past greats in a different generation, played in a different gear. Over the next few days youre going to see the game played thats current, with the best players in the world, playing in overdrive. From an entertainment standpoint, youll be on the edge of your seat for the next week.Whether or not fans hold up their end of the bargain is to be determined. The overwhelming majority of ticket sales online have been purchased by out-of-towners. A ticket sales manager at the main Florida CPL box-office location at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center said a week out from the event that the word was about 100 walk-up tickets were sold in the month and a half since tickets went on sale.Yet there was more success achieved at other satellite sales locations, where tickets were offered by local West Indian expat merchants. Sheila Sawh Gowkaran, owner of Joys Roti Delight - a cult restaurant located across the street from the stadium - said she sold out of her batch of 500 tickets more than two weeks ago. I could have sold 1000 if they gave me that many, Gowkaran said.In terms of local competition from other sports, Miami Marlins are home at the moment and commence with a four-game series against St Louis Cardinals, which directly clashes with the CPL start times. However, CPL chairman Richard Bevan doesnt feel theyll be affected by traffic that could have gone to the CPL games had Marlins been away.I think were only in competition with ourselves in terms of putting on the very best product and making sure the cricket in Florida is played lighter and better, Bevan said. Well communicate that to a world audience over the next few days. Pulling out all the stops, Tridents part-owner Mark Wahlberg tweeted his support for the event, encouraging people to show up in Lauderhill.Barring a dramatic surge in walk-up sales, the expectation is that Thursday nights curtain-raiser may be played in front of a half-full stadium, which may be a disappointment to ODonohoe. The crowd is expected to be better on Friday night, while Saturday and Sunday are projected to be sold out, with few tickets remaining for both days. Time will tell if better success at the gate on the weekend double-header days outweighs less than optimal attendances at the start.The last obstacle is the temperamental Florida weather in the summertime, which is also tropical storm season. The weekend prior to the CPL saw heavy rains each day. Some training sessions for the early-arriving teams were cancelled. However, since Monday there has been glorious sunshine every day. Organisers have their fingers crossed the rain will hold off through the weekend, and the current forecast is for good weather on the first three days, with only Sunday in some doubt.If the scene in Lauderhill is anything like the last visit made by West Indies in 2012, the atmosphere should be thriving. Instead of having to wait four more years, good support in Lauderhill for the CPL might not only encourage the league to come back next year, but a visit by India and West Indies could be in store even sooner. Scarpe Stan Smith Ingrosso . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Scontate .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. http://www.scarpenmdscontate.it/scarpe-nmd-nere-outlet.html . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No. Scarpe Stan Smith Scontate . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. Yeezy 350 V2 Outlet ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Test cricket is experiencing a period of unpredictability that was missing from the game for many years. For more than two decades, first West Indies and then Australia dominated the Test rankings. Now its anyones guess who will be on top from one week to the next.At one point during the concurrent England v Pakistan, Australia v Sri Lanka and India v West Indies Test series recently, it was possible for any one of four teams to head the rankings. In the end it was a surprisingly resilient Pakistan who grabbed the honour.Its definitely better for Test cricket to have the current situation, where many teams are vying for top ranking. During the period West Indies and then Australia dominated, many series suffered from being predictable, and while some of the cricket was of a high standard, much of it was one-sided.People often complained to me that West Indies matches back then were boring. As I explained, Its hard to have batting diversity if theres no variety in the bowling. Their four-man pace attack was highly effective under all conditions but it didnt leave much room for a batsmans imagination.However, during West Indies reign there was occasionally some spirited opposition, with a feisty Pakistan, led by the redoubtable Imran Khan, pushing West Indies to the limit. Australias extended period of dominance caused the administrators such consternation that they came up with the ill-conceived plan for a one-off match against a World XI. This became a complete farce when that 2005 Test was classed as official.During their period of domination, both West Indies and Australia produced teams of such high quality that a couple of them would have to rank in the top ten of all time. The current standard is well off that pace, but the likelihood of upset victories and quick changes of fortune partly compensates for the slippage in skill level. The decline in standard is partly responsible for the regular failures of teams when they travel overseas. The ratio of away Test wins, except in the caase of tours to the Caribbean, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, is extremely low.dddddddddddd.Much of the blame for these overseas failures can be sheeted home to batsmen struggling in foreign conditions. This is hard to fathom when players tour more regularly than in the past, whether it be with a national team or as T20 entrepreneurs. Then again, it is more difficult for young players to acclimatise to overseas conditions, as there are generally very few tour matches before a Test series commences.Computer rankings have never been a satisfactory method of judging teams, but during the reign of both West Indies and Australia, you didnt need an Apple Mac to know who was No. 1. Now, with the standings changing regularly, it would be preferable to decide the Test champions by playing a dedicated series of matches.Such a championship has been discussed for nearly three decades and there has already been one false start. Hopefully, with plans being discussed to rationalise the cricket schedule, the second coming of the World Test Championship will eventuate.If that comes to pass, the ICC must ensure it doesnt become a farce with home-town pitches being prepared. A home-town final could result in a pitch that produces either a one-sided contest or a boring batathon, whereby a drawn match will win the Championship by default.Many Australian Sheffield Shield finals have degenerated into the latter category, with the home team only needing to draw to confirm its place at the top table.The suggestion that Lords be a permanent home for the final is a good one, as this should provide a fair surface and the chance of crowds worthy of such an occasion.The ingredients are in place for a worthwhile World Test Championship with so many teams staking a claim. Its up to the administrators to make sure this much-needed promotion of Test cricket doesnt become yet another spilled chance. ' ' '