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By Peter Della Penna

Momentum continued to build on Sunday night towards bringing about drastic changes to the way cricket is being governed in the United States as Eastern American Cricket Association (NY) President Rudy Persaud continued his campaign for a no confidence motion to be brought against USACA President Gladstone Dainty. Persaud was one of many USACA stakeholders present on a nationwide teleconference call to discuss recent events in US cricket. At least 30 people identified themselves as being present while on the call, which was organized by North West Regional director Hemant Buch and moderated by North West Regional secretary Susheel Kumar.

In a letter first published on newyorkcricket.com last Tuesday, Persaud stated he had “no confidence in Mr. Dainty’s ability to lead USACA or represent my league to the ICC.” On Sunday night, he went a step further by recommending a no confidence motion should also be taken against interim USACA vice-presidents Rafey Syed and Michael Gale.

“I think as league presidents, we should just vote no confidence in the USACA president right now and the two guys who he put there as first vice-president and second vice-president,” said Persaud. “We should do something about that. We’re looking toward these league presidents to work with us and see what we can do. I don’t think USACA is going anywhere.”

Buch started off proceedings on the evening by issuing a challenge to all present to use the call to establish a clear vision for working together to bring about positive changes in US cricket. He also hoped that the call would set an example for stakeholders to get involved and be active in making decisions rather than sitting idly while waiting for things to happen.

“I’m hoping that we will help energize and galvanize all the league presidents to demand right thing for the development of cricket from the administrative members that we have elected to run business of USACA,” said Buch. “This is our opportunity to redefine the fate of US cricket. People change, situations also change. The lesson we need to learn going forward is that we need to pick individuals with proven track record and someone who will tirelessly work to unify the board. This ‘Divide and rule’ policy has gone on way too long and has prevented us from working together. I call on you today to come up with swift action before next weekend’s USACA board meeting.”

More than 10 league presidents spoke on the call, mainly from the Central East, North East and New York Regions. Lada Bedi was the only league president from the South East Region on the call while Nanda Kumar of the Houston Cricket League was the only league president on the call from the Central West. The Atlantic Region was the only region which did not have any confirmed representation of any kind on the call.

Early in the call, Kumar read out a previously prepared statement from Persaud, advocating all league presidents to rally together for positive changes.

“I would like to encourage my fellow league presidents to take a stand for the good of cricket as I am sure all of us would like to see the game grow in the USA and to be part of its growth,” read Kumar verbatim from Persaud’s statement. “However, we cannot do that by sitting on the sidelines allowing others to make a mockery of the game, our constitution and some of us. As league presidents, we have the power to decide who governs us and the right to remove those that fail to honor the commitment. The current president of USACA has failed us repeatedly, causing USACA to be suspended twice before. I’m sure you guys would not like to see us suspended again. Therefore, we have to take a stand and regain control of the management of cricket in the United States. Finally, I would like to encourage my fellow league presidents to speak up because if you don’t, you’re just as guilty as he who commits a crime against cricket and others we have elected to serve us.”

A common theme throughout the evening was the league presidents speaking out against the suspension of John Aaron, who was present on the call. Almost all league presidents who spoke during the call lamented Aaron’s suspension as being unconstitutional and hoped that it would be overturned in the near future. Many also spoke about the need for Golam Sayeed to be recognized as the Central East Representative and Tony Gilkes as the North East Representative on the USACA board of directors. The issue of the results of the Atlantic Region election was not brought up until an hour and 17 minutes into the call by Aaron after all the league presidents present had already spoken. There was also a discussion about the status of the USACA election which was scheduled for October 15 but hasn’t taken place.

Connecticut Cricket Association President Kevin Hussain urged Sayeed, Gilkes and Aaron to attend the USACA board meeting scheduled for this Saturday, October 22 in Florida. Hussain argued that by attending the meeting, the three men would be respecting the wishes of the USACA constituents who voted for them. All three men confirmed during the call that they plan on attending the board meeting in Florida.

Perhaps the most impassioned plea for the league presidents to get on the same page came from Commonwealth Cricket League (NY) President Lesly Lowe. During his remarks, Lowe stated that USACA had been in decline for decades. Lowe blamed the current state of USACA on the league presidents, but said he believed the same league presidents hold the power to make changes and turn things around.

“I’ve been involved in cricket for a long time,” said Lowe. “I was 14 years old when I started playing cricket in America. The Commonwealth Cricket League started out in 1980. USACA has always been a closed door society. USACA has always been a good old boys club. USACA has never had any transparency. USACA has had zero credibility, I mean zero credibility. Over the years, USACA has not gotten any better. It has gotten worse. In the early ‘70s we had a president of USACA. The president’s name was Nazir Khan. Nazir was based in Philadelphia. Nazir Khan was elected by four people. This organization was so opaque, you couldn’t see through it. This was worse than a smoke filled room.”

“Now, this is 2011. We are living in the most democratic society, America. USACA is our national body and today if you look what’s happening in USACA, we see if you look back at the past it has gotten worse and worse and worse. Now, we are to blame. I’ll tell you who is to blame and if we do not fix this, we are going to carry this blame for a long time. This can be fixed tomorrow. This can be fixed by the league presidents. We are the guys fighting the battle. We are the guys in the trenches. We are the guys with the long boats, doing the hard work. Why should we sit back and let whatever is going on take place right now in USACA?”

“So if we want to make things better, what we’re doing here tonight is the start hopefully of something good and the league presidents must take responsibility, 100% of responsibility because we need to do what’s best for US cricket. Right now, I would say we are maybe the laughing stock of the rest of the world and if you guys disagree with me it’s up to you but I don’t think you should disagree because countries have come from behind like Bangladesh, who once we were ahead of Bangladesh in many ways. Today, Bangladesh is playing Test cricket.”

Bedi used his time to state that he is in favor of the compliance process. A recent poll showed that USACA fans and stakeholders are divided on the issue of whether or not voting eligibility should be tied to satisfactory completion of the compliance review process.

“Regarding compliance, I am definitely in favor of this compliance because every time we have elections and after the elections we’ve heard that there is a lot of bogus leagues or bogus votes and we always complain for the next three years. So this is the best, the compliance to find which is legal, who can vote,” said Bedi, before joining the chorus calling for Aaron’s reinstatement.

Southern Connecticut Cricket Association President and North East Regional director Leighton Greenidge announced a proposal for all league presidents to further discuss these issues in a face-to-face meeting next month.

“Arrangements have been made to have a face-to-face meeting for every single league president that is interested in having a face-to-face meeting,” said Greenidge.” Arrangements have been made to pay for all of your expenses, including travel and hotel, to convene a meeting in the New York-New Jersey area.” Greenidge did not identify how the expenses would be covered.

Before signing off, Buch and Kumar stated that there may be a follow-up meeting this week to solidify plans to present the concerns of stakeholders and constituents to the USACA board during this weekend’s board meeting in Florida. According to Buch, the amount of league presidents on Sunday night’s conference call outnumbered those in attendance at the last USACA Annual General Meeting in Dallas in April of 2010.