So now that I have slept on it, I just want to express my opinion.
I will be completing 11 years in USA. From getting up early in the morning or staying up all night has a hardcore cricket fan to watch India play or IPL was supposed to be the norm and it is still the norm with the exception that the teams performance and elongated IPL has dwindled my interest in Cricket. I know and would see the Asian diaspora playing cricket around me would always wonder what would Cricket look like if USA was powerful in the sport.
Watching Cricket primetime in USA last night was amazing! Kudos to the organizers for organizing a top quality cricket match. The stadium, the quality of stream on cable (not internet), the commentators lineup, the players involved and most importantly the (overseas)domestic talent stepping up. Full jam packed crowd added that flavor minus the TSK whistles that made it loud and annoying!
Onto the game, TKR played how KR franchises play, SHITE! TSK played how SK franchises play HARDCORE. From Conway to Miller to Mohsin to Rusty's spell to those 2 wickets by Coetzee it was amazing! Russel was a dud in the field and bowling and he did to some extent make it up by his batting.
I do not blame Narine for the decision to bowl first as it was the first time a match was being played on that wicket with a lot of unknowns. I was happy the ground was not small. I infact liked this ground better then Central Boward in Florida although the later has more capacity.
Too early and a double header on Friday makes no sense but I think this will help improve USA cricket tremendously. The local (overseas) talent will really learn from all these superstars (minus Russel). This being a short tournament will definitely help and even if they keep getting half the crowd each match, MLC will make money. IPL + domestic cricket associations investment with so many investors + merchandise sale + ticketing sale, this might just survive.
The only thing that probably needs to change after this is the Minor League, probably from 27 teams, get it down to like 14.