So as mentioned in What are you thinking? thread, I went to watch a day of cricket at something called Unity Cup (T20) in Chicago. I really just went to accompany my brother-in-law who played for the Madison team, but what I found while there was that this is an ICC approved event with several international players participating. I found the list on PakPassion after a bit googling (I met/watched the bolded play):
Kamran Akmal (Pak Team)
Hammad Azam (Pak Team)
Shazaib Hassan (Pak Team)
M. Sami (Pak Team)
Shabbir Ahmad (Pak Team)
Khalid Latif (Pak Team)
Sohail Khan (Pak Team)
Tahir Khan (Pak Team)
Azeem Ghumman (Pak Team)
Jimmy Hansra (Canada Team - Captain)
Ricardo Powell (West Indies)
Mervyn Dillon (West Indies)
Fahad Babar (Usa Team)
Adam Sanford (Usa Team)
Orlando Baker (Usa Team)
Steven Taylor (Usa Team - Captain)
Only guy I'm missing was a Nepalese cricketer who is apparently a very explosive batsman.
Sami, Shabbir, Khalid, and Sohail (I actually talked to him without realizing who he was) were all on the same team - Punjab Lions - and won the whole thing by pretty much dismantling every single team. My BIL's team got taken for 290 runs and only managed to scored 110 in response.
Akmal didn't keep, just played mid-on and extra cover but still managed to miss an easy runout. Watched him bowl as well. Great 1st over followed by giving up 3 huge sixes. He batted very well in a team full of knobheads. Sami and Shabbir weren't really doing anything special on the day I went, but Sohail was bowling very well, faster than Sami. Steven Taylor was great to watch. He reminds me of Jayasuria. He also made one of the best fielding moves saving a 6 that I ever watched live.
All the guys I met were very nice and accommodating. Got some bad quality pics and videos (remember, I didn't realize how big this thing was so didn't bring a proper camera) that I'll upload later.
One thing that really stood out to me was just how much better the bottom of the barrel international players are compared to us mortals. Most of the local guys participating play in the Midwest Cricket Conference, which has probably the highest standard of cricket in this part of the country, yet they were consistently getting blown away by a 40 year old Dillon.