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By Peter Della Penna

Another dark cloud is casting a shadow over USACA this week as 13 players from the preliminary squad of 18 for the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier next month in Bangladesh have written an email to protest what they feel is unfair treatment over their proposed tour stipend for Bangladesh. The major issue outlined in an October 5 email written to the USACA board and obtained from a source is that men’s players receive as much as $175 per day as a tour stipend while the women are only being offered $100 per day for their time in Bangladesh. If the players do not agree to the $100 per day figure, their final camp scheduled for October 14-16 is in danger of being canceled. USACA is also threatening to replace the women with other players if they do not comply.

Among the names who have signed the email are leading players Candacy Atkins, Joan Alexander and 2011 USACA Women’s Tournament MVP Doris Francis as well as the only two American-born players in the squad, Erica Rendler and Shebani Bhaskar. There are 15 women in total who signed their names to the email, 13 in the original 18-player list announced by USACA in July and two other women who were not: Delkash Shahriarian and Geetha Reddy. The only big name who did not sign the email is Indomatie Goordial-John.

Image (right) - Doris Francis is one of 15 players unhappy with the amount of financial support being given to the USA Women's team. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

“Fifteen of the 18 USA Women players would like to bring to your attention the unjust and inadequate stipend of $100 per diem being offered to each player for the upcoming Bangladesh Tour and subsequently the threat of not having the final training camp,” the email begins. “For last July's tour to Canada, we were given roughly 30% more to play Canada in the 3-match series, in which we defeated Canada 3-0 to win our spot in the Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier and represent the ICC Americas. We were also given a promise of a bonus which has yet to be fulfilled.”

“Now, we are one tournament away from the Women's Cricket World Cup; and we are being offered less. We will be playing alongside top-ranked nations such as South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. With all due respect, we are thrilled at representing the USA at this prestigious tournament and looking forward to achieving the goal of going to India; but we are feeling very much under-appreciated, disrespected, and simply disregarded for the achievements we have made thus far in our short history and underestimated, for what we can accomplish in Bangladesh.”

“Why isn't the 3-category compensation system used by the men being employed for the women?” the women’s email continues. “We do recognize that sports administrators world-wide have not caught up fully with equal pay for female and male athletes but: is a 43% ($175 for men) disparity between our stipends adequate given that our stipends are not driven by ticket sales? Is it adequate given that the men played division 3 (and now division 4) cricket and the women are playing for a World Cup spot yet the men still receive $175? Is it adequate given that we received more to play an ICC Americas competition in our backyard against a single team, three times?”

According to USACA Cricket Committee Chairman Krish Prasad, men’s national team players receive a stipend based on a three-tier system. Players who are playing in their first tournament for USA get $105 per day. Players who have previous senior team experience get $135 per day and players who have played in 75% of the senior team matches over a designated time period prior to the tournament for which they are being selected get $150 per day. However, at least one source claims that the three-tier payment structure was $125, $150 and $175. The last figure is what women’s players quoted as a comparative figure in their email. Men’s players also received a separate fee of anywhere between $100-200 extra to cover incidental expenses related to travel such as airline baggage fees for transporting cricket kit.

As part of an October 5 email in response to the women, USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed claims that the $100 per day stipend was calculated in part based on the projected daily costs for expenses in Bangladesh and says that there is not enough historical evidence to grade women’s players according to a three-tier system like the men are.

“All players are being offered the same stipend as there is not enough of a history on USA Women's International cricket to grade players in terms of team seniority,” wrote Mohamed. “The stipend also took into consideration availability of funds and resonable [sic] expenses one may expect in Bangladesh.”

Prasad says that the men’s players received the same payment regardless of how expensive daily costs were in a touring destination, i.e. players on a tour of Nepal received the same per-day stipend rate as players on a tour of Bermuda, relative to their respective tier. He feels that the women are not being treated fairly and says that he has no idea who proposed the figure of $100 per day for the women since he’s been kept out of recent discussions pertaining to cricket related matters even though he is the chairman of the Cricket Committee.

“I think the women should be treated the same way as the men because they also have commitments and expenses and we should treat them the same way,” said Prasad on Sunday. “We never take advantage of the exchange rate or the cost of living per se. We were always dealing with a limited amount of resources but we’re always trying to do the best for the players.”

Prasad says that the 10-day women’s camp to Barbados in August cost roughly $63,000 meaning there should be $37,000 left from the $100,000 Apple Pickers Foundation grant earmarked for women’s cricket. Prasad says the remaining money should have been enough to hold a camp next weekend in Florida and also cover expenses for the first week in Bangladesh prior to the start of the qualifier. USA is due to leave for Bangladesh on November 5 with their first match taking place against South Africa on November 15.

Mohamed wrote though that he would not make arrangements for this weekend’s camp, including buying plane tickets, for any of the players in the squad until they agreed to the $100 per day stipend for Bangladesh. The longer the players hold out, the more expensive plane tickets will become. USACA must submit a final 14-player list for the qualifier to the ICC by October 15th and this weekend’s camp was intended as a final selection trial. If the stalemate between the players and USACA continues, the camp will most likely be canceled and alternate second-string players would be found to go to Bangladesh.

“USACA has an obligation and committment [sic] to participate in the ICC tournament, and if need be, will explore alternative arrangements to meet and honor its commitment,” wrote Mohamed. “Hopefully, that will not be necessary.” The women hope they will find support in the matter but time may be running out.

“Gentlemen, if you, the leaders and voices of men's, women's, and youth cricket of this country, do not believe in us; do not value our contributions and sacrifices being made to be successful,” wrote the women, “why should we play to win? As you know, females in the USA do not have established leagues but some of us play in men's leagues to meet that shortcoming. Some guys have the luxury of playing for various clubs across the country by virtue of clubs paying their expenses while some of us females pay out of pocket to travel cross-country to play matches and sometimes just to practice. Some of us are so committed to this cause and representing this country that we pay out of pocket for gym memberships, indoor cricket facilities rental, drive hundreds of miles to practice - expenses that we otherwise would not undertake. We do not expect to get reimbursement for these expenses though any national program would cover such; but we do expect that we have your 100% support when we step out of this country, wearing the USACA logo.”

The 15 women who have signed their name to the email protesting inadequate stipend payments for the tour to Bangladesh for the 2011 ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier:
Candacy Atkins
Joan Alexander
Doris Francis
Nadia Gruny
Triholder Marshall
Shondell Ward
Monique Mathee
Erica Rendler
Shebani Bhaskar
Melissa Sandy
Karen Bayles
Samantha Ramautar
Anahita Arora
Delkash Shahriarian
Geetha Reddy