Holness Commissioner Dale V. C.

Overview

Commissioner Dale V.C Holness, an avid cricket fan since his youthful days and good spin bowler and batsman, was honored and humbled by the nomination to become an inductee in the cricket hall of fame. From 2000-2002 commissioner Honess led a successful petition drive [along with Dennis Hardial] and collected enough signatures to justify the need to have a cricket stadium built by Broward County, Florida. In 2008 the stadium was officially opened. He participated in the ribbon cutting.

While serving the City of Lauderhill for six years from 2004-2010, as a Lauderhill Commissioner and Vice-Mayor, he remained a consistent advocate for the advancement of cricket and the use of the Lauderhill cricket stadium- the only USA stadium that is ICC certified and sanctioned for international play.

"The high level of this competitive sport has brought many history-breaking events to the Central Broward Regional Park and stadium, which is the first in the USA." The stadium hosted the Third Annual T20 U.S. Cricket Open at the beginning of October of 2011. It was the main venue for the four-day event . Other games were played at Miramar Regional Park in Miramar and Brian Piccolo Park in Cooper City.

"This event sold out two hotels in Broward County. This is a great thing. We look forward to doing more of these events, and not only for cricket but the multipurpose facility can also have football games, rugby, soccer, and many other sports there, " Commissioner Holness said. In the same month, Commissioner Holness assembled a Cricket Advisory Committee to seek teams and sponsors to assist in bringing cricket to Broward County and to work closely with the USA Cricket Association and other organizations. To ensure that the park is well-positioned to attract tournaments.

In 2006, he fostered the Sister City partnership between the cities of Lauderhill and Trelawny, Falmouth, Jamaica. Trelawny had just opened a 20,000 seat state-of-the-art cricket facility. In marking the occasion, Holness participated in hosting commemorative cricket matches between the USA vs. Jamaica and Lauderhill vs. Trelawny, in Jamaica.

In 2011, he formed and chaired a District 9 Cricket Council to assist in the advancement of the game and for better use of the cricket facility. The council was successful in helping to secure the international teams of New Zealand and West Indies to play an ICC-sponsored T-20 tournament at the stadium on June 30 - July 1, 2012. This year (2012), the stadium also hosted the US College Cricket championships with teams from the USA and Canada participating.