Allan Border played in Los Angeles in 1983 as a member of the Australian team on their way to play the Ashes series in England. Border returns to Los Angeles, sixteen years later, after having scaled the peak of cricket, as manager/coach of the Australian 'A' Team. Australia will play India in The America Challenge five, 50 over a side, one day matches in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world.

Australia 'A' will be led by Adam Gilchrist and includes a powerful line-up of international players that includes Andrew Symonds, Michael Di Venuto, Damien Martyn, Brad Young, Shane Lee and his younger brother Brett Lee, considered to be the fastest bowler in Australia today. The Indian 'A' team will be announced on September 1. The five matches, commencing September 15 will be played at Woodley cricket field, located just minutes away from MCA/Universal Studios. Universal studios is where the legendary director Steven Spielberg began his career and made most of his major hit films and where tourists can come into direct contact with the shark from Jaws!

Cricket has been a century old tradition in the United States and Hollywood once boasted a cricket team that was captained by Errol Flynn. There are now nearly 1000 active teams playing across America in 75 different leagues. Played by immigrants from cricket nations, a majority of cricket players are of Indian, Pakistani and West Indian origin.

This initiative by the ACB and the BCCI will be a great boon for cricket in the USA. America, undoubtedly the world's greatest untapped market in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) cricket globalization plan was blocked from staging international cricket because of various warring factions among cricket's hierarchy. However, at the ICC meeting last July, the USACA - the ICC affiliate entrusted to run cricket in the US - was given the go ahead by the ICC to take charge of it's own destiny.

"We've supported the development of the USA cricket team since 1996 and been through some pretty tough times. We are very grateful to the Australian and Indian cricket boards for sending their teams to play here. Anyone travelling through the major cities across America in the summer will get a sense of the potential of the game. Cricket is played on a regular basis in ethnic communities and, it is to those cricket communities that we plan to take international cricket to." said Mark Mascarenhas, President of WorldTel Inc., the American based, cricket television marketing and production company that also represents cricket stars like Sachin Tendulkar. Mascarenhas' business partner in the venture to bring cricket to the USA is Billy Packer, CBS TV's leading basketball analyst and US sports entrepreneur. Packer likens the US opportunity for cricket in 2000 to Soccer in the late 60's when a group of powerful corporate tycoons like music mogul Ahmet Ertegun brought great football stars like Pele, George Best and Beckenbauer to play in the North American Soccer League (NASL).

The composition of cricket players in the US are mostly West Indians, Indians, Pakistani and Sri Lankans. Research studies show the Asian population in the US to be well educated, upscale professionals - engineers, doctors and computer executives. The enthusiasm for cricket is also shared by English, Springbok, Kiwi and Aussie expatriates - an Aussie owned popular sports bar in Manhattan, New York transmits LIVE cricket to its patrons while they down their favorite brew!

For more information about The America Challenge call toll free in the USA 1-877-384-6400 or WorldTel in the United States. at (203) 454-4570.