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By Peter Della Penna

Former USA women’s team head coach Linden Fraser says that the dispute which arose in the original 18-player squad for the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier was borne out of a lack of respect shown to the women.

“The whole thing I’ve been seeing that the women has been holding USACA to ransom, that this thing is all about the money, that’s a total fabrication of the truth,” said Fraser in a recent interview. “Yes, the money is a part of it, but the money is not the main issue. The main issue these women have with the board, or I should say Dainty who happens to be President who is making all the decisions, they feel they’re not being treated properly by the board. They felt that they were being treated like second class citizens and I can agree with them on that.”

Fraser denies rumors circulating that he instructed women to demand that they would not play if Fraser was not the coach. He says that he was cast aside for standing up to the administration on behalf of the women and also for asking to be paid for his coaching position.

“This thing about me being the coach was because I stood up for the women because I felt the women was not being treated properly,” said Fraser. “They were being thrown into the wilderness and nobody cared about them and I stood up for that. I know I would have been taken out as the coach because it happened before. This is not the first time it has happened under Dainty’s leadership.”

“I was told it should be an honor for me to coach the USA team. They told me I should go and coach the US team for free. Hell no. I’ve been doing that since I’ve been in the US, doing stuff without getting paid for it and I realized that they have other people nowhere near as qualified as me coach the national team and are being paid to do that.”

Image (right) - Linden Fraser [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Fraser says that the women initially began to feel let down over the summer when it became apparent that USACA was not going to be able to follow through on having the three training camps that were promised to them prior to traveling to Bangladesh for the qualifier. According to Fraser, there was enough money in a proposed budget for the usage of a $100,000 grant from The Apple Pickers Foundation to allow for three camps. He blames the fact that three camps did not happen on financial mismanagement by USACA and does not entirely believe that the 10-day camp to Barbados cost $63,000 as quoted by former USACA Cricket Committee chairman Krish Prasad.

Of the players who were originally in the squad, the only ones who did not go to Bangladesh were from the Tri-State Lynx team which Fraser coaches. Fraser denies that there was a rift between Lynx and non-Lynx players, but acknowledges that there were problems that developed on the Barbados tour which he did not want to discuss. According to several sources, manager Louise Browne-Jackson wrote a tour report which was highly critical of Fraser for his handling of players both on and off the field. “We’re in the 21st century and things that used to happen back when the manager were playing don’t happen now,” said Fraser.

When asked if he felt the women in the squad should have shown more solidarity in their stance with the stipend, Fraser said it was up to each individual player to do what was best for themselves. A letter was sent to USACA and signed by 15 players asking for stipends equivalent to what men’s players receive. Several of the players who signed that letter wound up being selected, including new captain Doris Francis. “They all said they were sticking together, but I don’t know what happened,” said Fraser.

The former women’s coach also says that the women all pledged to go to Bangladesh during a conference call with Andy Pick several days before the squad was announced. The players also apparently had a conference call with USACA President Gladstone Dainty which Fraser claims to have listened in on during which he says Dainty told the players that the team would be picked by then captain Candacy Atkins and two of the coaches, Mark Johnson and Howard Johnson, who supervised last month’s camp in Florida. Instead, he claims an entirely different squad was announced with all but two Lynx players – Nadia Gruny and Shebani Bhaskar – replaced. Fraser felt the original squad had a realistic chance of qualifying for the 2013 ICC Women’s World Cup, but says that the recent decisions of the administration have “pushed women’s cricket 20 years back.”

“I know all these women that has been selected,” said Fraser. “Bangladesh is not a joke and this team that we have here going to Bangladesh? I’m sorry it’s embarrassing, very very embarrassing. I’m not gonna take away anything from none of the women but it’s a big big embarrassment. There were seven players in the original team that are not there and those are seven of the best players.”

“As the ICC said, there’s no country in the Americas who can come up with a second XI team and that is exactly what’s happening here. With all due respect to them, they are all promising but not the level that is expected to play in a qualifier. They are promising, but they’re not at that level.”

USA’s first match at the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier is against South Africa on Tuesday. South Africa beat Sri Lanka by six runs on the opening day of matches in Dhaka on Monday.