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USACA announced the 'executive board nominees' for the election to be held on April 14, 2012.  This latest announcement follows two recent developments that are expected to play a major role in this election.

Following a board meeting on February 26, 2012, thirty three leagues were deemed ineligible to vote in this election as a result of a ‘compliance review.’

The second development is the audacious immediate offer of $2000 'administrative grant' to each of the fifteen leagues recently certified by USACA as vote-eligible. This grant was announced just days before the list of nominees was made public.

Thanks to these recent developments, it is now widely believed that Gladstone Dainty (picture at right) is a shoo-in for another three-year term as President.

If Dainty wins, he will be in the driver’s seat for two organizations that will shape the destiny of USA cricket.  DreamCricket.com just received a document this week in which Gladstone Dainty is listed as the Chairman of Cricket Holdings America LLC.

Ram Varadarajan, Kenwyn Williams and Mahammad Qureshi are all in the presidential race as expected.  All had announced their candidacy some months ago.  A notable surprise is that the name of Nabeel Ahmed is missing from the list of nominees. Ahmed’s campaign issued a press release as recently as March 6 in which he called himself ‘a concerned cricket fan and presidential candidate.’

Five candidates are in the fray for First Vice President including three members of the outgoing board - Ahmed Jeddy, Krish Prasad and Michael Gale. Mahammad Qureshi and Shahid Ahmed are the remaining two candidates. It is interesting to note that both Ahmed Jeddy and Michael Gale are from the Central West region.

For the Second Vice President too, there are five candidates. Ahmed Jeddy is in the reckoning for this post along with the incumbent - Rafey Syed. The remaining three candidates are North West’s Hemant Buch, Mahammad “MAQ” Qureshi and Charles Peterson.

For secretary, the candidates are John Aaron and Kenwyn Williams. John Aaron served as Secretary until he was suspended after criticising Dainty in an article that appeared on several websites.  He subsequently resigned from his post.  His opponent Mr. Williams recently sent out an email offering a free iPad3 to first ‘10 of the 15 league presidents that can vote.’

In September 2011, John Thickett told ESPN CricInfo: "The organization is going very much from a mom and pop to much more of a real organization. The national organization has to become more efficient and get better administrators involved in different activities and roles.”  Thickett’s wish may have been granted for his own spot. Running against him is Professor Gangaram Singh, who is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at San Diego State University.

Here is the list of nominees announced by USACA:

President:  Gladstone Dainty, Kenwyn Williams, Mahammad Qureshi, Rammohan Varadarajan
1st Vice President: Ahmed Jeddy, Krish Prasad, Mahammad Qureshi, Michael Gale, Shahid Ahmed
2nd Vice President: Ahmed Jeddy, Charles Peterson, Hemant Buch, Mahammad Qureshi, Rafey Syed
Executive Secretary: John Aaron, Kenwyn Williams
Treasurer: Gangaram Singh, John Thickett

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Michael Gale and Ahmed Jeddy are both from the Central West Region and not the South West Region.