USA Cricketer : Aditya Thyagarajan

USA Cricket: 2013 ICC WCL Division Three Report Card Part 3 - Outlook for USA's 50-over future

openingbat — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:22:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Click here for Part 1 - Team Grades and Part 2 - Player Grades

Part 3 - Outlook for USA’s 50-over future

1. Sort out the coaching situation – According to multiple team sources, Robin Singh was furious when talking to the team over the phone from India after USA lost to Bermuda on the last day of round-robin play. It’s hard to understand why he was furious though. Was it because he took a bigger paycheck from the Mumbai Indians to be in India instead of with USA during the Division Three tournament?

Singh is understood to have spoken to the team or team management after every match in Bermuda. Coaching by conference call is no way to coach. At the U-19 and men’s level, USA’s only successes under Robin Singh and his crew have been a second-place finish last September at ICC WCL Division Four and against ICC Americas competition, which is the least competitive standard USA encounters in international play.

Image (right) - Robin Singh, pictured during a match-day training session at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament in Florida, has USA way down the totem pole on his list of coaching priorities. Will he commit fully to USA or should USACA search elsewhere? [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

It is very hard to understand why Robin Singh is paid a princely sum for his services when the USA Cricket Association is an administrative pauper. A cash-strapped governing body certainly should be able to find a less expensive coaching option that will get them more value, specifically someone who is based in the USA and is willing to work with the players on a more consistent basis locally. Singh is paid to more or less be a chaperone on tours or as was the case in Bermuda, to consult by telephone rather than in person because he has higher priorities in India.

USACA needs to put their foot down once and for all to make Singh choose between coaching USA or sticking with his other commitments in Twenty20 franchise leagues around the world. If he wants to make more money coaching with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League or the Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League then that's a perfectly normal decision. Coaching USA should be someone's first priority though, not their third, fourth or fifth.

2. Choose a new captain – Steve Massiah took over the role from Richard Staple as USA captain at the ICC Americas Division One tournament in August 2006. There are currently 42 international teams that USA has either played against from 2006-2013, been at the same tournament as USA in that time or are currently ranked above USA in the global 50-over rankings. Of those 42 teams, only three still have the same captain in 50-over cricket: Argentina (Esteban MacDermott), Papua New Guinea (Rarua Dikana) and Tanzania (Hamisi Abdallah).

It’s worth noting that not only has every ICC Full Member changed their 50-over captain in that time, but also every one of the High Performance Program Associate teams. Having a new captain is not necessarily a reflection of a regression in skills from the incumbent. It’s about having fresh ideas and fresh styles, trying something different when the status quo has not achieved desired results.

Image (left) - Steve Massiah, pictured batting against Uganda, has been USA captain since 2006, during which USA has failed to reach the ICC World Cup Qualifier in two consecutive World Cup qualification cycles. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA has effectively stood still in the global rankings since Massiah became captain. As a result of their 10th place finish at the 2005 ICC Trophy under Staple, USA was due to participate in 2007 ICC WCL Division Three in Australia before an ICC suspension dropped them down to Division Five. USA has since clawed back into Division Three twice. They were relegated from Division Three in 2011 and are now stuck there after a third place finish in 2013 instead of advancing to the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier. Prior to Massiah becoming captain, USA had participated in every single ICC Trophy, the former name of the ICC World Cup Qualifier, from 1979 through 2005. In seven years under Massiah's captaincy, no progress has been made and USA has arguably gone backwards after failing to reach the ICC World Cup Qualifier, let alone the main event, during two World Cup qualification cycles ahead of the 2011 and 2015 ICC World Cup.

Massiah is USA’s all-time leading scorer in one-day cricket and provided solid contributions at Division Three against Italy and Oman. However, his leadership has become stale and captaincy appears to have had some drain on his batting. He has not scored a century in tournament play since 2006. He doesn’t command a place in USA’s T20 team, let alone a spot as captain, with a T20 average of 11.00 in 14 games. So it’s conceivable that Massiah might not be a participant in any ICC tournament for two years when the next Division Three tournament is anticipated to take place in 2015. The time is right to make a change.

There are a few players who are good candidates to be USA’s captain in both formats. Sushil Nadkarni has been USA's vice-captain for several years and served as captain of the T20 team in the UAE last year. Orlando Baker led USA well in March at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One T20 and has plenty of experience under his belt.

Image (right) - After leading USA to an 8-0 record in March at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament, Orlando Baker would make a good choice to become USA's captain across all formats. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA could also choose to go in a different direction and adopt policies that countries such as Hong Kong and Nepal have employed by naming a much younger player as captain to give them time to ease into the role. In that scenario, Steven Taylor would be the obvious choice. Taylor served as vice-captain to Baker in March during the ICC Americas tournament. He will most likely be captaining the USA U-19 team in Canada this July and has previously captained the USA U-15 squad in 2009 so he is already gaining plenty of experience in leadership positions. It might be good for Baker or Nadkarni to be the captain for the next few years though until Taylor or another up and coming player like Ryan Corns, who captained USA during one of the two T20s against Canada during the Auty Cup tour in November, is ready to take over the mantle.

3. Commit to a core squad, one with better balance focused more on specialist batsmen and bowlers instead of an overload of allrounders and one-dimensional sloggers– USA's selection snafus were chronicled on DreamCricket.com well before the squad took part in Division Three. Taking a much closer look at the composition of USA's squad, they went to Bermuda with only three specialist batsmen: Massiah, Nadkarni and Rashard Marshall. The rest of the 14-man squad was made up of two wicketkeepers, four allrounders and five bowlers. It is almost impossible to win a tournament with such an unbalanced squad.

Taking the field with only three specialist batsmen, USA was basically forced to pick all four allrounders - Baker, Timroy Allen, Barrington Bartley and Japen Patel - in their starting eleven every game during the round-robin phase. Several members of USA’s management touted the fact that USA could bat to number 10 with Neil McGarrell and Elmore Hutchinson down the order, but that meant nothing if the players taking up those spots throughout the order are bits and pieces batsmen rather than full-fledged specialists. The truth is that having so many allrounders created the illusion that USA's batting contained more depth than there actually was. It also meant that no matter what, it would be near impossible for Danial Ahmed or Naseer Jamali to get a game in place of one of the allrounders because it would make USA's batting even thinner.

The unbalanced squad selection came back to bite USA by the end of the tournament, especially when Nadkarni was out with an injury in the final round-robin match against Bermuda. USA was not a team playing with six specialist batsmen in their usual starting eleven, let alone did they have the luxury to call upon a reserve specialist batsman. When Nadkarni couldn't play, USA sent out a starting eleven consisting of two specialist batsmen, two wicketkeepers, four allrounders and three specialist bowlers. It should surprise no one that they lost.

This was why dumping players like Aditya Thyagarajan and Aditya Mishra ahead of the tournament was a mistake. Specialist batsmen who can dig in and rotate the strike rather than relying on fours and sixes to score all of their runs would have been very handy to have against Uganda and Bermuda but they were nowhere to be found.

Although Marshall is a specialist batsman and Allen an allrounder, they have similar batting styles as does Bartley. Marshall demonstrated against Oman that he can knock the ball around for singles, but all three are heavily reliant on clearing the ropes to score the majority of their runs and they sometimes struggle to adjust if the match situation calls for a different method of scoring. At most, two players who play in that style can afford to be in the middle order and not three. Japen Patel playing at number nine and not bowling means he is not capable of holding down a spot in the team on his batting or bowling alone, let alone as an allrounder. Two of those spots in the starting eleven could have gone to specialist batsmen or one each to a batsman and a bowler like Danial Ahmed.

Overall, USA made six changes to the squad that advanced from Division Four in Malaysia. Nepal, the Division Four champions, only made one change to their squad for Division Three in Bermuda. Changing almost half the squad that gained promotion for USA into Division Three was a radical maneuver and clearly didn’t pay off. Meanwhile, Nepal stuck to their core group and wound up Division Three champions.

Image (left) - Aditya Thyagarajan is one of several veterans whose presence was sorely missed in Bermuda at 2013 ICC Division Three. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

The respective squad selections by USA and Nepal from 2012 ICC WCL Division Four to 2013 ICC WCL Division Three are a microcosm of a much deeper issue. From 2008 ICC WCL Division Five in Jersey - the first tournament that USA and Nepal ever played against each other - to 2013 ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda, Nepal has used 26 players in 81 games in 50-over and T20 cricket. Meanwhile, USA has used almost three times as many, 67 players, across 90 games in 50-over and T20 cricket (see list at end of section three). The list of 67 does not include four other players - Abhijit Joshi, Glen Hall, Hemant Punoo and Josh Dascombe - who either toured with USA's senior team without appearing in a starting eleven or played for USA in unofficial/warm-up matches. USA has picked 52 players that have appeared in 50-over and/or 20-over cricket plus an additional 15 players who have appeared solely in 20-over cricket. Nearly half of those players, 30, were picked for a single tour in that timespan. This means that USA has used more players for a solitary tour experience than Nepal has used for all of its tours combined from 2008-2013.

Those numbers, 67 total players and 30 one-and-dones, are absolutely staggering figures. It can’t be blamed on lack of availability for players to get time off from work or school classes either. It simply comes down to USACA’s lack of vision and planning, with almost no continuity from tournament to tournament.

USA only had five players in their squad for Bermuda that participated in the previous Division Three tournament in Hong Kong in 2011. Clearly, experienced hands like Thyagarajan and Shuja were missed more than anyone in Bermuda, but the services of others who were part of the team in Malaysia such as Mishra, who was USA’s T20 vice-captain in 2012, and Corns were also missed. More continuity and faith in a core group could have led to better results.

Looking elsewhere, a model Associate Member like Ireland has more or less used the same core group of players over the last few years which unsurprisingly has been a recipe for success. From the 15-man squad that was picked to go to the 2011 ICC World Cup, 11 were named in the squad that will play two ODIs against Pakistan later this month. The four who weren’t – Andre Botha, Nigel Jones, Boyd Rankin and Albert van der Merwe – are absent because all four have retired from international cricket. Regardless of the fact that the majority of Ireland’s players are contracted professionals and USA’s are amateurs with either classes or jobs to attend on a daily basis, Ireland’s administration has shown faith in a core group of players and stuck with them.

From the start of the 2011 ICC World Cup, Ireland has used a total of 19 players in ODIs and T20s. Essentially, Ireland has had 11 core players from 2011-2013 and has committed itself to developing four players to replace the four who retired since the 2011 ICC World Cup. Meanwhile, USA has used 50 players in official one-day and T20 matches from 2011-2013. Ireland and Nepal's consistent selection policies have been rewarded with on-field success while USA's fluctuating fortunes are a reflection of their inconsistent, mercurial, haphazard and scatterbrained selection policies.

Players USA has used in official matches since 2008 listed in alphebetical order
Note - Players who only appeared in a single tour from 2008-2013 are listed in bold italics

George Adams, Danial Ahmed, Quasen Alfred, Timroy Allen, Imran Awan, Orlando Baker, Barrington Bartley, Adil Bhatti, Ryan Corns, Robert Cresser, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Jignesh Desai, Sudesh Dhaniram, Akeem Dodson (wk), Dennis Evans, Durale Forrest, Karan Ganesh, Bhim George, Muhammad Ghous, Adrian Gordon, Hussain Haidar, Elmore Hutchinson, Moazzam Imtiaz, Naseer Jamali, Nasir Javed, Howard Johnson, Ritesh Kadu (wk), Asif Khan, Bilal Khan, Rahul Kukreti (wk), Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah, Neil McGarrell, Ashhar Mehdi (wk), Stu Mills (wk), Aditya Mishra, Masood Mohamed, Andy Mohammed, Shahid Munir, Nauman Mustafa (wk), Sushil Nadkarni, Kumar Nandalal, Amir Nanjee, Japen Patel, Mital Patel, Timil Patel, William Perkins (wk), Steve Pitter, Abhimanyu Rajp, Gowkaran Roopnarine, Saqib Saleem, Greg Sewdial, Niraj Shah, Samarth Shah, Hammad Shahid, Usman Shuja, Saami Siddiqui (wk), Charan Singh, Nicholas Standford, Timothy Surujbally, Steven Taylor (wk), Aditya Thyagarajan, Anand Tummala, Clain Williams, Carl Wright (wk), Saurabh Verma.

4. Find at least one sponsor for the national team – USA and Oman were the only two teams in Bermuda not to have a sponsor on their jerseys. The USA jerseys themselves were flimsy, with the lettering on the jersey of at least one player falling off halfway through the tournament. Last year, USACA apparently had a brief arrangement with Reebok to have their jerseys provided but that deal has since dried up. It’s hard to believe that a USA national team in any sport has to pay for their uniforms instead of being paid by a major apparel sponsor to wear that sponsor’s logo, but that is the situation USACA continues to find itself in.

Although USACA cleverly presents several business entities as “USACA Partners” on their web site, USACA doesn’t have any genuine sponsors. An ideal business tie would be with one of the many domestic airlines in the USA. Since 2011, USACA has had two board members who are employees at a pair of major airlines, United and American. Such a sponsorship might help defray costs of flying players in and out of Florida for camps, trials and domestic tournaments.

One of former USACA CEO Don Lockerbie’s failures was in not securing any sort of sponsorships in the five to six-figure range. Lockerbie overestimated USA’s market value and kept seeking million dollar deals which never appeared. Although he played a major role in linking USACA with New Zealand Cricket and other investors to form Cricket Holdings America LLC, that partnership has so far done little to advance cricket in the USA financially or developmentally.

Image (above) - Uganda had a sponsor, Mehta Group, at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three. Meanwhile, USA was without corporate support for yet another international tournament. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

There’s no reason why USACA should not be able to find a bank sponsor, airline sponsor, hotel sponsor, automobile sponsor and/or a beverage sponsor in addition to a separate corporation or business as a title sponsor for all of its endeavors. Securing sponsorships is supposed to be Darren Beazley’s calling card. USA’s stakeholders will see over the next few years if he lives up to his billing in that regard.

Reaching the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier might have made it easier for Beazley to secure a sponsorship and finishing in the top four would have almost made it a slam dunk because USA would have then qualified for the ICC High Performance Program, which would have carried admission into the Intercontinental Cup as well as ODI status. USA would have then had a guaranteed number of fixtures each year outside of ICC tournaments. Another domino effect of that would have been an incentive to give a handful of USA’s younger players such as Taylor, Allen and Muhammad Ghous central contracts with any sponsorship funds that could have flowed in.

Instead, USA will now be without a 50-over ICC tournament until at least 2015 and if USA doesn’t finish in the top six at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in November, USA will not participate in a single 50-over or 20-over ICC tournament in 2014. It’s nearly impossible to award a USA player a central contract when they may only be playing a handful of games a year. It’s also hard to secure sponsorship when a team has only a handful of non-televised fixtures to display a sponsor’s logo on a jersey on the field, meaning the opportunities are limited for the sponsor to get exposure and a return on their investment. That makes Beazley’s job much harder, but not impossible.

[Views expressed in this article are those of the author who was present at all of the team's matches at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda. If you have differing views or opinions, we respect those views and urge you to provide your feedback - both positive and negative - in the comments section.]

USA Cricket: 2013 ICC WCL Division Three Report Card Part 1 - Team Grades

openingbat — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:18:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Part 1 - Team Grades

Batting – C+: USA had the tournament’s highest scorer after the group stage and overall in Steven Taylor. They also had eight of the 12 highest partnerships in the tournament, with two century stands and seven half-century stands overall. Unfortunately, USA’s batting lacked the overall consistency from the beginning to the end of the tournament as well as from the top to the bottom of the order.

The team scored one century and eight half-centuries, but also compiled eight ducks. The first wicket partnership of Taylor and Orlando Baker produced 125 runs on the first day, USA’s best ever partnership against Nepal, but after that the first wicket partnership averaged just 6.20 the rest of the tournament.

Image (left) - Steven Taylor acknowledges his USA teammates after reaching 100 against Nepal on the opening day of the tournament. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA’s best opening tandem in 50-over cricket is Taylor and Sushil Nadkarni. Although USA has had a long established strategy of slotting Nadkarni down the order against Nepal, there was no reason why he should not have been opening in the other matches he played. USA coach Thiru Kumaran stated after Nadkarni missed the crucial round-robin showdown against Bermuda that, “Sushil getting injured and not coming in, maybe that could have affected us a little bit. Being an important game, we didn’t have our best player, our best opener there.”

If Nadkarni is USA’s best player and best opener, it stands to reason that he should have been opening throughout the tournament but he never opened the batting once for USA and that hurt them in the end. The most surprising pair sent out to open was Japen Patel with Taylor against Uganda. Patel is a player who has shown some improvement with his batting and USA’s administration is eager for him to develop, but he has no business batting above Nadkarni under any circumstances, let alone open above him.

USA’s best partnerships of the tournament came for the third wicket where they averaged 71.83. Baker and Taylor produced USA’s best partnership from that spot in the third place game, 156 runs against Bermuda. USA also had half-century stands for the third wicket against Nepal (Taylor and Nadkarni), Italy (Massiah and Nadkarni) and against Bermuda in the last round-robin game (Baker and Dodson).

USA’s middle to lower order partnerships were strong when the pressure was off in the third place game against Bermuda and after a huge platform had been set against Nepal, but otherwise the segment of the game where Aditya Thyagarajan usually specializes in fell apart for USA in his absence. They averaged 14.17 for the fifth wicket and 6.83 for the sixth wicket in the tournament. USA put up a 93-run unbeaten stand for the seventh wicket against Nepal, but in the other four group games they averaged 12.50 for the seventh wicket. Thyagarajan’s ability to put together partnerships in the middle and lower order was sorely missed especially against Oman, Uganda and Bermuda.

Worst of all was the cardinal sin committed by not batting out all 50 overs against Uganda. It cost USA by the end of the tournament when the net run rate tiebreaker came into play. The team shot themselves in the foot multiple times in that match with foolish shots to get out and displayed an inability to rotate the strike. The game plan appeared to be for batsmen to slog their way out of trouble or get out doing it. Uganda scored 92 runs off ones and twos in that match while USA could only manage 36 runs off singles and doubles. No matter how difficult the pitch was in the second innings, that’s poor.

Overall, USA benefitted greatly from missed chances by their opponents. The tournament could have turned out much worse for USA had they not had such good fortune at the crease, although USA more than repaid it in the field against Bermuda. Opponents committed less drops than USA in the field, but USA punished their opponents more for each drop. USA's opponents conceded 14 missed chances during the group stage, but USA seized an extra 354 runs off the misses. Four times a USA batsman finished not out after being dropped. After the first time a batsman was dropped, USA averaged 44.25 extra runs. The most valuable second chance USA had during the group stage was when Oman goofed up a runout opportunity when Rashard Marshall was on 12. The bowler dislodged the bails without the ball in his hand and Marshall went on to win the match for USA by making 72 not out in a two-wicket win.

Bowling – B: USA’s bowling unit performed well for most of the tournament with their only glaring letdown coming during the Christopher Douglas ambush in the last group match against Bermuda. USA allowed just three half-centuries during the tournament, but allowed eight half-century stands during the event, including two in that crucial match against Bermuda. Neil McGarrell was tied for first atop the wickets list after the group stage with 12.

Image (right) - USA fast bowler Elmore Hutchinson on his approach to the crease. Hutchinson finished second on the team with 10 wickets in the tournament. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA’s opening bowlers were good at making early breakthroughs. The opposition averaged 13.50 for the first wicket and twice the opposition lost their first wicket without scoring. But the biggest opening stand came at the worst possible time for USA, 43 by Bermuda in their upset win on the last day of round-robin play. The opposition’s best partnerships were for the fourth wicket with an average stand of 37.00 including two-half century stands produced by Bermuda and Uganda. Each of those stands could have been curtailed had USA converted catching or runout opportunities provided to them in the field.

USA also lacked a killer instinct to wipe out the tail, something they have struggled with in the past, as Steve Massiah’s preferred method of captaincy is to let a match drag on rather than go for the kill. As a result, the ninth wicket stand for the opposition averaged 27.40. Noteworthy partnerships of 44 and 41 were produced by Nepal and Oman, something that turned out to be crucial by the end of the tournament when the net run rate tiebreaker came into play.

Fielding – F: USA missed 24 definite chances in the tournament (19 drops and five missed runouts), an average of four per game, while numerous other runout half-chances were missed in the field. Many teams have varied levels of batting and bowling skills, but the two things that every international side can do to narrow any gap against their opponent is to outwork them with fitness and fielding. USA always lags behind in both areas and it keeps their opponents in games.

USA had 19 missed chances during the group stage with the chances coming off 10 batsmen. On six occasions in the group stage, USA gave the same player multiple lives and on three of those occasions they dropped a player three times in one innings. After a batsman’s first missed chance, USA gave up an average of 24.33 extra runs to that player during the group stage, conceding a total of 219 runs overall after missed chances in their first five games. On average, USA conceded an extra 36.50 runs per game in the group stage on missed chances.

The costliest miss came against Nepal, when number seven batsman Sharad Vesawkar was dropped on 0, the first of three extra lives he was given, and made 72. USA’s fielding was horrendous against Bermuda, with six definite missed chances and many more half-chance runout opportunities lost. At 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia, Singapore began a frantic chase on the last day against USA by stealing sharp singles at will in the first nine overs. A direct hit by Ryan Corns in the 10th over put Singapore on notice that they could no longer keep challenging USA in the field the way they had been and suddenly the pressure shifted onto Singapore as USA strangled the scoring rate.

All it would have taken was a single runout in the first 15-20 overs to put off Bermuda from stealing those sharp singles at the National Stadium on the final day of round-robin play in Hamilton. USA’s fielders did not score a direct hit the entire afternoon, whether or not a batsman had his bat across the line, and on multiple occasions fielders panicked under pressure by choosing the wrong end to throw to. Many other opportunities could have been converted with an accurate throw to wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson over the stumps. Instead, throws short-hopped into his feet or were wide enough of the stumps that he had to dive just to save them from turning into extra runs on overthrows. USA finally converted a run out in the 35th over, by which time Bermuda had run away with the match. Bermuda reached the target in the 45th.

Fitness – C-: USA’s fitness was good in the early stages of the tournament, but flagged as the tournament continued and was a contributing factor in their losses to Uganda and Bermuda. Taylor was well conditioned at the start of the tournament and his 162 against Nepal was chanceless.

However, he appeared to be weighed down by wicketkeeping on top of opening the batting as the event wore on. The team’s flagging fitness had a definite impact against Bermuda with so many sloppy fumbles, misfields, misfired throws and drops. It’s not as if Bermuda’s fitness was much better with two batsmen, Douglas and Stephen Outerbridge, struggling through their innings while cramping up. Yet they managed to find a way past it while USA was hampered.

USA will have plenty of time to work on their fitness though. By finishing out of the top two in Bermuda, their next 50-over ICC tournament won’t be for another two years.

Coming up in Part 2 - Player Grades

[Views expressed in this article are those of the author who was present at all of the team's matches. If you have differing views or opinions, we respect those views and urge you to provide your feedback - both positive and negative - in the comments section.]

USA Cricket: Episode 5 - Guest Thiru Kumaran on the US Cricket Podcast

openingbat — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:54:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

USA head coach Thiru Kumaran is the latest guest on the US Cricket Podcast. Kumaran, 37, played eight ODIs for India in 1999 and 2000 before a back injury curtailed his career. After making a comeback in the Indian Cricket League in 2008, Kumaran moved with his wife to the USA where they now live in Dallas, Texas.

In this episode, Kumaran tells the story of how he became known as “Kenny”, his Indian domestic and international career including making his debut under Sachin Tendulkar’s captaincy as well as his short time in the ICL rebel Twenty20 competition. He then discusses his experiences in United States cricket and what obstacles face the team at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda, which begins on Sunday.

The full episode can be accessed by clicking here and can also be downloaded for free on iTunes. The following are a few selected quotes from the interview.

Peter Della Penna: One of the big news items that came out of the squad selection was that two senior members of the team, Aditya Thyagarajan and Usman Shuja, were left out of this squad and they have a tremendous amount of experience that they’ve built up over the last several years for the US national team. In their place are a couple of younger players. Do you feel it was a big risk to leave them out and miss out on that experience in place of having some younger players in the team?

Thiru Kumaran: The thing is we are heading in a certain direction, US Cricket. I am talking about the whole cricket getting more professional and we are setting some standards. So if a few standards are not met then we need to take a decision. Hopefully the players understand that and then they just get their standards to the level that has been expected. That’s as simple as that. So going forward if you set the policy and you go ahead with it, it doesn’t matter whoever it is. We have to take a decision, you have to take a decision as simple as that.

PDP: What standards would you say certain players are falling short in?

TK: A few things I am allowed to talk, a few things I cannot talk. This is what it is. You set a standard. We are trying to be more professional, we trying to be a more fitter team, we are setting ourselves a few standards which have been given to us. So once those things are not happening, then we need to take a decision and go ahead with people who are willing to do it.

PDP: What is your outlook in terms of the opponents you are going to face? As far as I can tell, the schedule that USA has in front of them, it’s almost the worst possible scenario in terms of basically the two toughest matches are going to be the first two matches that the team plays. Instead of being able to ease into the tournament against some easier opponents, you have Nepal and Italy back to back on the first two days of the tournament.

TK: I think it’s a blessing that we are playing Nepal first because we will be really fresh and we know from our experience the last time we know what we need to work on. We have definitely worked on those things and we have asked the players to work on whatever they have to work on. Nepal is one side we feel is a strong side. So playing them first, I don’t believe in easing into the tournament. I believe we are playing the strongest side first. We’ll be well prepared and we’ll be fresh, one main thing. So if we win this first game, it’s gonna set us up for the whole tournament. That’s how the whole team is looking at the fixture. So I feel definitely it’s a blessing that we are playing Nepal first.

PDP: You said if you win this game it’ll help set you up for the rest of the tournament, but if you lose the game do you feel it’ll be too difficult to overcome? Basically you’ll need to win four straight games to finish in the top two.

TK: It’s not about losing…. It’s a plus. When you win against a strong side, you are very confident. When you lose against a strong side, you lose to a strong side so you carry on with the game. So it’s definitely a plus, not a minus.

PDP: You lost twice to Nepal in Malaysia. What needs to change in order to get that result in the opposite direction for the USA?

TK: The first game, I know you were there, but we dropped some catches.

PDP: You dropped a lot of catches.

TK: Yeah, so we dropped a few catches which made them put up a strong total. Even though we were on line chasing it, we struggled in the last 10 overs. So we definitely have worked on those issues which was hindering us. Mainly they attack with spin so we asked the players to play a lot of spin. From Bermuda we have practiced until now so we asked them to play a lot of spin, get used to it. So there are a lot of things and we did a lot of fielding practice and we asked them to take a lot of catches every day. So these are the things we are trying to, whatever is our weakness we are trying to fill it up. So I think we are definitely better prepared this time.

USA Cricket: No rhyme or reason behind decision to drop Thyagarajan and Shuja

openingbat — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:21:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Farce, sham, disgrace. They are the first three words that spring to mind but if one opens up a thesaurus there are plenty of others that could be found to encapsulate this situation. There is no sugarcoating how abominable the process has been regarding the evaluation and selection of the 14-man USA squad announced on Sunday by USACA that will compete later this month at the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Bermuda. A slice of Swiss cheese has fewer holes in it than this selection process.

The problem is not the team or the players. The problem is the process. There are good players in this 14-man squad. However, do not fall under any illusions that USACA is sending its best 14 to represent the country in Bermuda. This is not USA’s best 14 and falling short of that represents a failure by the selectors and the administration that oversees them.

There is no possible way that this could be USACA’s best 14-man squad with Aditya Thyagarajan and Usman Shuja missing from the list. They are two titans, pillars in the modern era of the US national team. Thyagarajan is USA’s third highest scorer of all-time in limited overs cricket with 897 runs in live competition at an average of 39.00. Among USA’s top ten scorers, only Steve Massiah (40.44) and Sushil Nadkarni (55.77) have a higher average and more runs overall than Thyagarajan. Shuja is USA’s second highest wicket-taker in the format, with 45 wickets at an average of 15.40. The next best average for any bowler in the top 10 wicket-takers list for USA is Kevin Darlington, who took 32 at an average of 17.19. How could anyone conceivably leave them out of the team going to Bermuda?

The stage was set for this folly in February when the USACA administration, specifically the five-man USACA selection panel headed by Selwyn Caesar, began soliciting availability for the core group of national team players for the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament followed by a three-match 50-over series against Bermuda which would be used for preparation ahead of ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda. Because the two tours were scrunched so close together, it presented an issue whereby many players could not get enough vacation time from work to be able to play in both tournaments. Some of USA’s key players could get one week off to go to Florida, but not two, ahead of the time off they would also require for the tour to Bermuda.

If the first-choice players had their way, they would have much preferred playing in the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament, not the three-match 50-over series against Bermuda, ahead of the tour to Bermuda for the simple reason that the ICC Americas tournament and ICC WCL Division Three are part of the pathway for ICC World Twenty20 and World Cup qualification and had much more at stake whereas the three 50-over matches against Bermuda were classed as unofficial practice matches by USACA and counted for nothing. However, players were all made aware that in order to be considered for ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda, they must participate in the three-match 50-over practice series so that they could be evaluated for selection going into the tour to Bermuda.

USACA announced a 14-man squad for the Twenty20 tournament and originally announced a 17-man squad for the 50-over series to follow. In an email on February 26, a USACA spokesperson stated that the 17-man 50-over squad was not formally announced in a press release because the three-match 50-over series against Bermuda was a “practice series” and because “we want the flexibility to bring in players from the Twenty20 tournament who may impress.”

Image (right) - Aditya Thyagarajan running between the wickets in the first 50-over practice match against Bermuda. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Just one player, Akeem Dodson, stayed on for week two after originally being scheduled to fly home at the conclusion of the Twenty20 tournament while three other players – Orlando Baker, Nicholas Standford and Saqib Saleem – flew home after the Twenty20s as planned. Adil Bhatti, who replaced the injured Karan Ganesh midway through the tournament, also stayed on for the second week. Observers may have been puzzled to discover though that Neil McGarrell, Hemant Punoo and Josh Dascombe appeared in Florida for the 50-over series when they did not impress anyone in the Twenty20 tournament… because they didn’t play in it. It resulted in USA having 21 players competing for 14 spots while only 11 could play at any given time during the 50-over matches.

Now competition is a good thing and certainly the more the merrier within reason. Flying in a 19-year-old US citizen from Queensland after a novel recruiting process initiated by new USACA CEO Darren Beazley was not a bad idea. Yet for an organization that could not afford to hold any proper tournaments in 2012, the remotest hint of a return to the ways of profligate spending last seen when more than $60,000 went to fund a USA women’s team camp to Barbados in 2011 certainly raised a few eyebrows among USA fans following online. More to the point, if a cash-strapped organization is going to pay to fly someone halfway around the world to be evaluated, they better get the most out of that plane ticket.

For some bizarre reason, Dascombe did not suit up for USA in the first 50-over match. Instead, he bowled in a net session, something he could have done for free back in Australia. In the second match, he bowled but didn’t bat while in the third game he bowled and batted. So USACA paid for Dascombe to fly halfway around the world to watch him bat once and bowl a total of 13 overs, not to mention the fact that he was trying out for a tournament he was not even eligible to participate in according to ICC eligibility criteria because he hasn’t fulfilled any developmental benchmarks on US soil.

As for the 20 players present who were eligible, the message was apparently sent out that everyone had to compete for their spot. For a team that was recently promoted from ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia, does it make any sense to tear up the team sheet and start from scratch with just three matches to evaluate everyone on? A reasonable assumption is that eight to 10 players who participated in the tour to Malaysia were clearly going to make up the core group of the squad heading to Bermuda. After finishing as the Division Four tournament’s leading scorer, what did Sushil Nadkarni have to prove by going out to bat in Florida?

Nadkarni sat out the first 50-over match, then opened USA’s chase in the second game. He raced to his 50 off 38 balls in the ninth over with the score 58 for 0. Several people who were at the ground assumed he would retire at that point, especially since USA only needed to chase 186 to win and certainly other players warranted a closer examination for selection. Instead, Nadkarni was instructed to bat on. The situation only managed to get more ridiculous when he started to cramp up at the end of the 23rd over and needed some treatment on the field for his legs. By this point he was on 89 and USA needed 53 to win. Why risk losing your best batsman to a muscle tear or other injury in a practice match?

However, Nadkarni was allowed to continue and he duly raised his century at the end of the 32nd over with the score on 166. At this point, USA needed 20 runs to win and they might as well have let him continue batting until the end. What did any of the remaining batsmen have to gain by going in with 20 runs left to win? In another head-scratcher, Thyagarajan was sent in and scored 6 not out. Seeing as he wasn’t selected for the tour, that 6 not out clearly did not help his cause.

The only possible thing Thyagarajan or anyone else could have achieved by going out to bat in that situation was hurting one’s own chances of selection by getting out. If anyone should have gone in there, it should have been Dascombe for two reasons. He wasn’t going to hurt his chances of selection for Bermuda since he wasn’t even eligible, but more importantly no one in the USA setup had ever seen him bat before and this would have provided the selectors a brief glimpse to see what he could do.

Instead, Thyagarajan went in. The message was clear that the selectors were looking for reasons to cut him loose, hoping he would have gotten out. Nadkarni could sense it because when he was asked if this USA team could be declared favorites for Division Three with the way they were playing, he stated that USA had many players who have experience playing in Bermuda but hedged his answer by saying, “We’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.”

The list of curious decisions only grew on Friday at the start of the third match. Nadkarni was left out again as was Rashard Marshall. In essence, it meant that two players who could not get enough time off work to play in the Twenty20 tournament the previous week were flown to Florida and forced to take an entire week off work to make themselves eligible for selection to Bermuda and subsequently played or batted in just one match. It’s disrespectful to Nadkarni and Marshall, two senior players who are definitely in USA’s best 14, to make them burn up five days of vacation time from work just to play or bat once in an unofficial game. Nadkarni was named vice-captain once again in the Division Three squad announcement on Sunday, underscoring his value. So therefore was it even necessary to bring him to Florida in the first place for the 50-over practice matches? The answer is no.

The second thing that should have jumped out to anyone who saw the USA team sheet for Friday’s 50-over match was that both Danial Ahmed and Ryan Corns were left out for the third match in a row. Going back to the point about USACA not holding any tournaments in 2012, stakeholders are led to believe that USACA is pinching pennies yet a week’s worth of stipends and hotel room costs were covered for two players who never took the field for the 50-over practice games. It’s understood though that Corns sustained a minor back injury after being hit by a ball during a net session that occurred on Tuesday for players who weren’t taking part in the first 50-over match and that’s what prevented him from playing in the following two games.

One would assume that neither Corns nor Ahmed would have any shot at being included in the squad for Bermuda if they were not evaluated by USACA selectors Selwyn Caesar and Barney Jones in a 50-over match, especially since the pair of selectors were only present for the 50-over matches and not for the Twenty20 tournament.

Meanwhile, it was the third match in a row for Massiah, Shuja and Thyagarajan. The indication was that all three players still needed to justify their spots in the team. Massiah went out and scored 12, dismissed by a 15-year-old spinner for the second time in three matches to wrap up his week with 58 runs at an average of 29.

Thyagarajan did what he does best: build partnerships to stabilize after a flurry of wickets or an early collapse. In the first 50-over match, USA went from 83 for 0 to 96 for 3 in the space of 4.2 overs. Thyagarajan followed it by building a 71-run stand with Marshall before getting out for 33. On Friday, the dismissal of Massiah put USA back at 45 for 3.

Batting with a rookie, Thyagarajan calmly guided USA out of early trouble by constructing a 50-run stand with Dascombe. Thyagarajan and Dascombe set the platform that allowed Barrington Bartley to go off on a boundary spree later in the innings. Thyagarajan eventually got out for 47 to give him 86 runs on the week at an average of 43. While neither Massiah nor Thyagarajan should be judged solely on last week’s matches, if that was the criteria then Massiah did not merit a spot as a batsman on the team ahead of Thyagarajan, let alone as captain. Apparently the context of Thyagarajan’s runs by way of the partnerships he built was also lost on the selectors.

Past members of USACA selection panels have been seen sleeping at national tournaments and other times on the verge of passing out while nursing a bottle of alcohol in a brown paper bag under a tree outside the boundary. So those at home might have been forgiven for wondering if two of the current selectors present in Florida were actually even watching the matches. The answer would be sometimes, but not all the time. After posting 284 for 6 in the first innings on Friday, Barney Jones was surprised to learn that USA had lost because he left during the second innings to go take someone to the airport. This would be the same innings during which Shuja was supposed to be judged in the field as to whether or not he deserved to keep his spot in the team. USA's players are essentially volunteers, not professionals, yet so much is expected of the players in terms of preparation and performance to meet high standards demanded on the field by the coaching staff and selectors. Unfortunately, the bar has been set pretty low for what is expected of USA's volunteer selectors regarding the approach they take to carrying out the task assigned to them.

Even when they were present at the grounds, the selectors generally could be observed to only be half paying attention to the matches in front of them. It was only when USACA CEO Darren Beazley was present sitting in the same space with them that both men sat up straight with eyes fixed straight ahead.

The 14-man squad for ICC WCL Division Three was released on Sunday by USACA and in the announcement on the USACA web site, Selwyn Caesar was quoted, “Due to the importance of the ICC tournament in Bermuda, the national selectors wanted to ensure that the selection process was thorough and that players from all over America were give every opportunity to impress. I am delighted that USACA supported our request and provided 21 players with the opportunity to stake their claim to represent their country.” DreamCricket.com attempted to contact Caesar to ask a few questions about how the squad was picked but a voicemail message left for him went unreturned. Several aspects of this squad raise serious doubts as to the process in which players were evaluated prior to being selected.

Twenty20 captain Baker was not among the 21 players evaluated during the three-match 50-over series but miraculously found his way into the 14-man squad to Bermuda. Make no mistake that Baker should be in the squad to Bermuda because he is among USA’s best 14 players, but according to the process that was laid out, how was it possible for him to be selected? Why was he given a pass and not forced to take part in the 50-over trial matches like everyone else yet still handed a spot in the team?

Ahmed and Corns also played the same amount of 50-over matches that Baker did last week: zero. Yet Ahmed was named in the 14-man squad while Corns was given a proverbial kick in the nuts by being left out after being USA’s leading wicket-taker in the Twenty20 tournament as well as one of only three players on the team to notch a half-century during USA’s first week in Florida.

Image (left) - Ryan Corns, bowling here in the second Twenty20 match against Bermuda, was USA's leading wicket-taker in the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament but found himself out of the team for the tour to Bermuda. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USACA has touted its newly signed partnership with the CricHQ statistical registry and is actively encouraging all USACA leagues to take advantage of it. One of CricHQ’s mechanisms for measuring a player’s worth is their MVP points system. According to the CricHQ MVP points system for the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament, Corns was fourth in MVP points behind Tournament MVP Janeiro Tucker of Bermuda, fellow USA teammate Steven Taylor and Sauid Drepaul of Suriname. Other USA players in the top 20 were Bartley at eight, Dodson at 9, Ahmed at 11 and Baker at 18. All six of USA’s players who were ranked in the top 20 for the Twenty20 tournament belonged in USA’s best 14 to go on tour to Bermuda. Corns was ranked ahead of four of them yet he has inexplicably been left out. Why has USACA signed up to use CricHQ’s software and data mechanisms if the selectors show no interest in utilizing the valuable analysis it provides?

The pivotal moment in the loss to Bermuda on Friday occurred when Timothy Surujbally grassed a straightforward chance at deep midwicket off the bowling of Shuja, a chance that selector Jones was not present to see. As a result, Lionel Cann went on to hit two sixes in the subsequent overs to propel Bermuda toward their eventual win. Considering that USA missed no less than 19 catching or run out chances during the Twenty20 tournament, this journalist commented to CEO Beazley, “I wonder how much of an emphasis the selectors are going to put on fielding in regards to squad selection.” The CEO responded that the selectors had a lengthy conversation the previous night on that very topic and that fielding was a definite point of emphasis.

By dropping Thyagarajan and Shuja, USA has lost their two most reliable catching fielders on the boundary. One only had to see the difficult catch that Thyagarajan took on Friday coming in from the long on boundary compared to the alarmingly simple drop by Surujbally at deep midwicket to realize the former’s value in that department. USA’s fielding was woeful in Malaysia, racking up 23 missed chances in six games. Shuja had four chances missed off his bowling in the round-robin loss to Nepal. However, Thyagarajan was one of the few players turned away at the door from entering The All Thumbs Club because he safely pouched the three chances that came his way on tour.

Corns is no slouch in the field either and took a spectacular catch to get rid of Tucker in the first win over Bermuda during the Twenty20 tournament. If USA’s bowlers weren’t already in the habit of crossing their fingers when the ball is in the air, it’s safe to say they’ll be doing it now with three of USA’s best catching fielders absent on tour.

The biggest error of all though is that the selectors have ignored the long established pedigree of Thyagarajan and Shuja with bat and ball respectively. The first consideration when picking this squad should have been form against the opponents USA would be facing. Shuja’s record against Nepal, Italy and Oman in 50-over cricket is sterling. In eight matches against Nepal, Shuja has 15 wickets in 63 overs at an average of 16.07 and an economy rate of 3.83. Against Italy, he has four wickets in three games at an average of 18.75 and an economy rate of 3.13. Shuja has claimed two Man of the Match awards against Oman. He returned figures of 2 for 22 in nine overs paired with a career high 43 not out in a two-wicket win at Division Three in Hong Kong while he suffocated their batsmen at the last ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier with a four-over spell of 1 for 9 in his other encounter against them.

The second consideration when picking this squad should have been form in the conditions USA will encounter on tour. At the 2010 ICC Americas Division One 50-over tournament in Bermuda three years ago, Thyagarajan was USA’s leading scorer with 250 runs including a career high 159 in a match against Argentina.

The third consideration should have been recent form. Thyagarajan did okay, not great in Florida. He looked shaky in Malaysia, especially in regards to his fitness as he looked to protect his right knee in his first tournament back after missing almost two years with the knee dislocation he suffered at Division Three in Hong Kong. But anyone who saw him in Malaysia and compared that performance to what was on display in Florida would know that Thyagarajan was in much better condition last week. In November, he scored 109 not out at the USACA 50-over national championship. The only other player to cross 50 from either team was Orlando Baker and Thyagarajan didn’t fail in any of last week’s matches either.

Thyagarajan may never have a six-pack stomach, but his weight is not an issue. In Shuja’s case, being too thin was a problem. He lost 10 pounds from his playing weight while dealing with pneumonia from over the winter and had yet to put it back on. He didn’t look to be bowling at full pace in the three 50-over games last week and was sapped for energy, but it was nothing that couldn’t have been put right over the course of the next four weeks. Shuja has always been USA’s fittest player on tour.

Image (right) - Usman Shuja, in action at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, is USA's second highest wicket-taker in 50-over cricket. [Courtesy: ICC/Barry Chambers]

If two players with the resumes of Thyagarajan and Shuja are being pushed out of the team, it better be by players who have left no doubt by scoring a century or taking five wickets. Barrington Bartley earned his spot in USA’s 14-man squad ahead of Thyagarajan, but the same can’t be said for some of the other batsmen who squeezed ahead of Thyagarajan and the same goes for Shuja’s place as well.

Above all else, the selectors should have asked themselves what every opponent USA is playing against would be pondering ahead of the tournament: would I feel more comfortable facing a USA team with Thyagarajan and Shuja in it or one without them? Bermuda, Italy, Nepal, Oman and Uganda are all high-fiving each other with the knowledge that they won’t have to face up to either player in Bermuda.

Shuja’s aggression leading the fast bowling unit will be missed greatly, but Thyagarajan’s absence will sting exponentially more. Former USA coach Clayton Lambert referred to Thyagarajan as “USA’s Insurance Policy” after the number of times he rescued his teammates following disastrous top order collapses. Against Ireland at the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, USA was 11 for 5 after the first 20 balls chasing Ireland's first innings 202 and well on their way to total humiliation. USA still lost the game, but Thyagarajan scored 72 not out and along with Baker preserved a small slice of dignity for their team by establishing a world record partnership for the seventh wicket of 99*, a world record in Twenty20 cricket that still stands today.

USA was four down after 11 balls against Argentina at ICC WCL Division Four in 2010 and in the fifth over it became 17 for 5 when Thyagarajan entered. He stayed at the crease for the final 45.3 overs in sweltering 85 degree heat with 90% humidity at the Ovale di Rastignano outside Bologna, Italy. Three hours of batting in sticky Mediterranean conditions with a wine vineyard in the backdrop meant his USA jersey had been sweat soaked into a darker shade of blue. When Rashard Marshall walked off with him after both made unbeaten centuries, half the team swarmed Marshall while the other half booked it to be first in line at the lunch buffet. Thyagarajan walked across the boundary to no applause, no pats on the back. Everyone took for granted another cool knock from “The Ice Man”.

As good as some other players around the country are, USA only has four genuine match-winners: Steven Taylor, Sushil Nadkarni, Timroy Allen and Aditya Thyagarajan. What sets Thyagarajan apart from the others though is that he provided the backbone for the team in times of crisis. USACA has now created a spectacular one by leaving out the best person suited to save the team in such a scenario. One can only hope it doesn’t come to that during USA’s six matches in Bermuda.

Not having Thyagarajan and Shuja in the squad doesn’t make this a bad USA team. USA still has some very solid players. However, heading into USA’s most important qualification tournament since the 2004 ICC Six Nations Challenge without Thyagarajan and Shuja in the squad robs USA of putting their best possible 14-man squad on the plane to Bermuda. That makes it an atrocious selection process.

[Views expressed in this article are those of the author who was present at all of the team's matches last month in Florida. If you have differing views or opinions, we respect those views and urge you to provide your feedback - both positive and negative - in the comments section.]

USA Cricket: Bermuda spoils Bartley century with 2-wicket win to end USA's 11-match winning streak

openingbat — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 05:02:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill, Florida (on Twitter)

DreamCricket.com's coverage on site from Florida for the three-match 50-over series between USA and Bermuda is sponsored by New Inning Foundation.

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation I Match Commentary

USA allrounder Barrington Bartley scored a thrilling century that was trumped by one from Bermuda’s David Hemp as the visitors knocked off the hosts by two wickets with two balls to spare in the third and final 50-over trial match on Friday at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. Bartley’s 111 not out off 65 balls catapulted USA to 284 for 6 but Hemp’s cool and composed 103 off 114 steered Bermuda toward victory. It was USA’s first loss since a Twenty20 defeat at the hands of Canada in November in Florida.

"When I went in there were almost 31 overs gone and for me to come out and score a century, I really feel pleased with myself and pleased with my performance," Bartley said after the match.

USA won the toss and elected to bat first, making seven changes from the team that beat Bermuda on Thursday. Steven Taylor entered the lineup and captained USA on the day and was joined by Bartley, Timothy Surujbally, Abhimanyu Rajp, Japen Patel, Naseer Jamali and Adil Bhatti in the starting lineup. Making way for them were Akeem Dodson, Sushil Nadkarni, Rashard Marshall, Elmore Hutchinson, Muhammad Ghous, Neil McGarrell and Timroy Allen. The only two members of the 21-man squad not to play in any of the three 50-over matches were Danial Ahmed and Ryan Corns.

Taylor and Surujbally opened for USA but their partnership only lasted 17 balls as Surujbally registered an eight-ball duck, caught driving loosely in the air to Dennico Hollis on the point boundary off the bowling of Malachi Jones to make it 5 for 1. Steve Massiah entered and with Taylor added 26 for the second wicket before Taylor struck a low full toss of the toe of the bat back to Janeiro Tucker for a return catch to be dismissed for 24, making it 31 for 2 in the 10th.

Massiah was joined by Aditya Thyagarajan and the pair demonstrated conservative running in their partnership, adding just 14 runs across 6.5 overs before Massiah was given out LBW for 12 off 29 balls to 15-year-old left-arm spinner Delray Rawlins for the second time in the week. Josh Dascombe entered with the score at 45 for 3 in the 17th and was part of a 50-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Thyagarajan as the pair stabilized the innings by knocking ones and two around the ground off of Bermuda’s spinners.

Dascombe was dropped on 22 by Lionel Cann at long off as the fielder turned a catch into a boundary. However, Dascombe was unable to make the most of his reprieve, dismissed two balls later when he played over the top of a full delivery from offspinner Jacobi Robinson and was bowled to make it 95 for 4 with one ball remaining in the 30th.

Bartley entered and in a harbinger of things to come got off the mark on his fifth delivery with a six over long on. He added 38 with Thyagarajan for the fifth wicket before Thyagarajan was bowled for 47 in the third ball of the 37th by Jones but not before the USA veteran fulfilled his reputation by digging his side out of a hole.

The platform laid by the grind it out partnership between Dascombe and Thyagarajan in particular allowed Bartley and Patel to play their shots freely in the latter stages of the innings. USA added 34 during the five-over batting power play from the 36th to the 40th overs to move to 164 for 5 before a startling acceleration in the final 10 overs in which USA added another 120 runs.

Patel stepped his foot on the gas pedal first, hitting two sixes and a four off medium pacer Greg Maybury in the 42nd. Bartley brought up his half-century in the 43rd over off 41 balls with his third boundary to go along with four sixes at that stage. Patel got out at the end of the 46th over, driving Tucker in the air to Samuel Robinson at long on for 40 off 26 balls, bringing an end to a 95-run stand at which point the score was 228 for 6 with Bartley on 75.

Image (right) - Barrington Bartley walks off the stadium pitch after scoring 111 not out off 65 balls against Bermuda. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Bhatti came in at number eight and with Bartley put on an astonishing 56 runs in the final four overs. Bartley entered the 50th frame on 91 off strike, but a single off the first ball by Bhatti gave Bartley the chance to reach triple figures and he did so in style, crushing back-to-back sixes before ending the innings with his ninth sixth, this time over midwicket. Jones finished with 2 for 49 but with the exception of Rodney Trott, the rest of the Bermuda bowling unit was roughed up during Bartley’s rampage.

Bermuda was undaunted by the size of the target though and unlike the previous two matches when they stumbled after making a good start, this time they made the most of a strong platform set by the top order. Jason Anderson and Tre Manders added 30 for the first wicket before Anderson was caught behind by Taylor off Jamali for 13.

Hemp arrived at the crease and put on 59 for the second wicket with Manders. Abhimanyu Rajp broke up the pair inducing a false drive to Bartley at point to send Manders off for 26. Bermuda’s run rate hovered around five per over for most of their innings and the asking rate never got out of control as a result of Hemp’s efficiency at the crease. He was particularly useful picking balls off his pads through the leg side and brought up his half-century in 59 balls at the start of the 23rd over.

Hemp’s 70-run partnership with Tucker ended in the 34th over when Tucker fell for 25 after he skied a slog off Jamali that was taken on the run by Dascombe coming from long on to the edge of the circle. Hemp raised his century in 113 balls with consecutive fours cut through point off Usman Shuja in the 39th over. He fell one ball later to end the frame, caught by Bhatti at cover to make it 198 for 4 in 39.

With the set batsman Hemp gone and two new players at the crease, USA had a chance to take back control of the match. Shuja got Cann to offer a straightforward chance to Surujbally at deep midwicket on the second ball of the 41st over with the score on 211 for 4 and the batsman on 14. Surujbally got to the ball in plenty of time but grassed the chance and instead of having five men down, Bermuda went on to take 14 off the over in what was the turning point in the match. Rather than nipping the partnership in the bud and ending the stand at 13, Cann and Jones added 54 runs together before Cann got out for 35 in the 45th, well caught at long on by Thyagarajan off Bhatti to make it 252 for 5.

Bhatti struck again in the 47th, getting Jones caught by Dascombe at midwicket for 29 to leave the door ajar for USA to rally back. Jacobi Robinson ended any hope of that happening though with two boundaries to lead off the 49th over bowled by Dascombe. Bermuda entered the final over with one run needed to win and despite a pair of hiccups with the loss of Trott and Jekon Edness, Robinson hit the winning run with an edge to third man. Bhatti finished with USA’s best figures on the day, taking 2 for 17 in two overs while Rajp was the most economical with 1 for 34 in 10.

USACA is expected to announce the squad for 2013 ICC WCL Division Three next week. The final 14 are tentatively scheduled to arrive in Bermuda on April 25, three days before their first match of the tournament. USA will play Italy, Nepal, Oman, Uganda and the host side in a round-robin event with the top two teams advancing to the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand.

USA Cricket: Taylor's 127 not out caps record-breaking week, USA goes 8-0 at 2013 ICC Americas T20

openingbat — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:57:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill, Florida (on Twitter)

DreamCricket.com's coverage on site from Florida at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament is sponsored by New Inning Foundation.

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation I Match Commentary

Records continued to tumble on Sunday as Steven Taylor’s 127 not out spearheaded a 77-run win over Cayman Islands to wrap up an undefeated week for USA at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. USA finished 8-0 with the win while Cayman Islands dropped to 1-7 with the loss and as a result they have been relegated to ICC Americas Division Two.

Image (above) - USA finishes number one at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

“We really worked hard since we arrived in Florida and the effort that we come here and put out to go 8-0, it’s a big achievement for USACA,” said USA captain Orlando Baker.

Taylor’s second century in as many matches reset his own USA T20 record and took him to 413 runs overall on the week to put him atop the run charts for the tournament.

“It was a dream come true and I’m happy for my accomplishment,” Taylor said. “I had one goal, my main goal was to become the highest run getter…. It’s a big boost for me because we qualified to the UAE and I’d like to do good in the UAE.”

USA won the toss and elected to bat first with no changes made to the side that beat Bermuda on Friday as Elmore Hutchinson and Saqib Saleem nursed injuries while Timothy Surujbally sat out. Taylor and Akeem Dodson opened and set a USA record for the country’s largest partnership in T20 cricket. The pair added 155 in 15.1 overs, breaking the mark for highest first-wicket partnership previously held by Taylor and Aditya Mishra with 78 vs. Scotland at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai and the highest partnership overall which was held by Aditya Thyagarajan and Baker with 99 not out in a seventh-wicket stand vs. Ireland at the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

Unlike his innings in the first match against Cayman Islands when he scored 95, Taylor’s time at the crease on Sunday was a charmed one with two straightforward chances being put down. The first came when he was on 21 in the fifth over with the score 41 for 0. Taylor top edged a sweep against offspinner Kevin Bazil that went straight to Alessandro Morris at fine leg. Morris misjudged it initially and then reached up over his head while backpedalling before spilling the chance.

Taylor treated Cayman Islands medium pacer Troy Taylor with particular disdain, torching him for a six and three boundaries in the 10th over as he brought up his 50 off just 30 balls in the process. On the first ball of the 11th over, Dodson scooped Ramon Sealy over fine leg for a boundary to break Baker and Thyagarajan’s partnership record.

The partnership finally ended when Dodson missed a slog to midwicket against Kervin Ebanks and was bowled for 46. Baker came out to the middle and for the second match in a row was present when Taylor brought up three digits. Bermuda had another chance to deny him of three figures though just five balls after Dodson got out when Taylor sliced a full toss straight to point but the fielder grassed the chance at chest height.

Instead, Taylor reached his century three balls into the 17th over with a single to the leg side. He scored his second 50 in just 21 balls. Cayman Islands still had three more overs to feel Taylor’s wrath though. The teenager added another three fours and a six in the final two overs before he carried his bat off the field with 14 fours and six sixes at the end of his 62-ball knock. The total of 198 for 1 was a record score for USA in T20 cricket, eclipsing the 193 for 5 USA made against Bermuda in Sharjah at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

Image (above) - Man of the Match Steven Taylor after breaking his own USA record T20 score with 127 not out vs. Cayman Islands. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna]

“There’s so many things that happened. There’s so many records that has break in this tournament, with the batters and partnerships.” Baker said. “But from a personal point of view, I’m very happy to lead this team, a young team. I get the respect from each and every player, from the managers right down to the guys. When I came here to Florida, I said I’m here on a mission as a captain and a senior player and the mission is complete.”

Cayman Islands never had a chance to chase the total despite a 60-run opening stand between Sealy and Zachary McLaughlin. Sealy was dismissed for 27 by Danial Ahmed in the 10th over and from there wickets fell regularly. McLaughlin was the first of three wickets taken by Ryan Corns, caught by Taylor at long on for a top score of 35. Corns had Ronald Ebanks stumped for 12 before Abhimanyu Rajp got into the act, removing Conroy Wright for 8 through the assistance of a brilliant catch on the boundary by Naseer Jamali to make it 100 for 4 in the 17th.

Corns capped off career best figures of 3 for 12 with the wicket of Kervin Ebanks, caught at deep midwicket by Japen Patel for 12 to make it 106 for 5 in the 18th. The last wicket to fall for Cayman Islands was that of Troy Taylor, stumped by Dodson for 1 in the 19th over, before Cayman Islands finished on 121 for 6.

In the day’s other match, Suriname stunned Bermuda by five wickets to take their record to 4-4 while Bermuda finished the tournament at 5-3 but still finished in second place to join USA as the two teams advancing from this tournament to the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE this November. Tre Manders and David Hemp both made 51 in Bermuda’s total of 144 for 4, but Suriname chased it down with two balls to spare aided by some shoddy fielding from Bermuda. Sauid Drepaul led Suriname with 42.

USA has an off day on Monday before a three-match 50-over series against Bermuda begins at Brian Piccolo Park beginning at 10 a.m. DreamCricket.com will have live coverage sponsored by New Inning Foundation for all three matches.

USA Cricket: Taylor breaks USA T20 record with 95 to spearhead two wins at 2013 ICC Americas T20

openingbat — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:59:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill, Florida (on Twitter)

DreamCricket.com's coverage on site from the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament is sponsored by New Inning Foundation.

Scorecard vs. Cayman Islands I Commentary vs. Cayman Islands I Scorecard vs. Suriname I Commentary vs. Suriname

USA’s 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Steven Taylor set a record for the highest score in Twenty20 cricket for a USA player with 95 in 59 balls to propel USA to a 100-run win over Cayman Islands on Monday at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. USA made a clean sweep for the day in the afternoon with a 79-run win over Suriname.

“It felt good because it was a long time playing local cricket and I wanted to play some competitive cricket so it felt good,” Taylor said. “[The wicket] played good. Nothing was keeping low. There was no odd bounce or nothing like that.”

In the morning match against Cayman Islands, USA won the toss and elected to bat first. After an initial setback with the dismissal of Timothy Surujbally for 6, Nicholas Standford joined Taylor at the wicket and the pair blasted the Cayman Islands batting unit to produce a 91-run stand for the second wicket. Taylor brought up his 50 off just 37 balls and celebrated by crunching the next delivery for his first six of the match.

Standford went on to score 34 in 30 balls before he was caught at midwicket off the bowling of Kevin Bazil to make it 119 for 2 in 14 overs. USA captain Orlando Baker came to the crease and gave excellent support to Taylor as the teenager pursued triple digits. A single in the 15th over gave Taylor the new record for a T20 score by a USA player as he passed Aditya Thyagarajan’s 72 not out against Ireland in 2010.

Taylor entered the 90s in the 18th over after clubbing his third six straight down the ground followed by a pair of twos to advance to 93. A two on the third ball of the 19th took him within one shot of reaching a century. On the next ball, he skipped down the track to try to hit a six but his attempt at glory fell short when he mistimed a drive in the air to Ronald Ebanks at long on to give Kervin Ebanks his second wicket while also denying Taylor a century that was well within his grasp.

Image (right) - Steven Taylor attemps to reach his century with this shot but only found the fielder at long on. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Baker was run out on the final ball of the innings for 36 and USA ended on 185 for 4, their second highest total in Twenty20 cricket. The USA record is 193 for 5 against Bermuda in Sharjah last year at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. Kervin Ebanks was the only opposition bowler to come away with his reputation intact, taking 2 for 25 in four overs.

“Playing at the stadium, the total always you want to get is over 130,” Taylor said. “Once you get over 130, it’s going to be a hard chase.”

USA put pressure on Cayman Islands early with four wickets in the first eight overs. Elmore Hutchinson had Zachary McLaughlin caught behind for 10 in the third over before Japen Patel claimed two in two overs, Ramon Sealy and Omar Willis each for 6, to make it 24 for 3. Left-arm spinner Danial Ahmed struck with his third ball, bowling Abali Hoilett for 6 and from then on Cayman Islands set about batting out their overs, showing no interest in chasing the target.

Karan Ganesh and Steven Taylor combined to run out Ronald Ebanks off the bowling of Ahmed, who bowled a stifling spell of 1 for 6 in four overs. Cayman Islands put on a 30-run unbeaten stand over the final 6.2 overs to finish on 85 for 5. Patel had the best figures for USA with 2 for 7 in two overs. Conroy Wright finished 36 not out to top score for Cayman Islands.

In the afternoon game in the stadium, USA again won the toss and decided to bat first vs. Suriname. The host side made one change, subbing out Naseer Jamali so that Akeem Dodson could enter the starting eleven and keep wicket in place of Taylor.

Taylor and Surujbally opened the batting again and engineered USA’s third half-century stand of the match, 67 for the first wicket before Taylor was caught on the long on boundary for 28 off the bowling of Sauid Drepaul. Surujbally carried on to make 44 before he was dismissed after a juggling catch by Romell Douglass at long on to make it 88 for 2. Arun Gokoel took his second wicket when he dismissed Karan Ganesh for 27 to make it 152 for 3 in the 19th over. Ryan Corns was then run out on the next delivery trying to come back for a second run on the first ball he faced.

However, Dodson was on his way to 50 at that point. With Baker there for support, Dodson brought up his first half-century for USA at the senior level on the penultimate ball of the innings and then wrapped up USA’s 20 overs by cracking his fourth boundary straight down the ground. USA finished on 171 for 4 with Dodson 54 not out. Gokoel finished with 2 for 38 for Suriname.

Image (above) - Cayman Islands batsman Ronald Ebanks can't make his ground in time to beat the throw from Karan Ganesh to Steven Taylor. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Once again, the USA bowling unit was too good for their opponents as Suriname stumbled their way to 26 for 5 inside the power play overs. Ahmed bowled with the new ball and was on a hat trick after dismissing both openers, Vishram Shaw and Shazaam Ramjohn, in the second over. Troy Dudnath was caught behind by Dodson off Hutchinson for 5 in the third before Suriname lost two in two balls again in the sixth over.

Suriname captain Mohindra Boodram was run out for 1 after a mixup with Andre Percival. On the next delivery, Percival slogged Corns to Taylor at long on for 10. It could have been even worse for Suriname had Barrington Bartley held on to a simple return chance off Drepaul in the eighth over when the batsman was on 3 and the score 32 for 5. Suriname took advantage of the lapse to put on 50 for the sixth wicket before Drepaul was bowled by Surujbally’s offspin for a top score in the innings of 31.

The last Suriname wicket to fall was in the final over when a batsman was run out off Ahmed’s bowling for the second time in the day. This time it was Gokoel who couldn’t take off fast enough from the non-striker’s end after Douglass nudged a delivery toward point. Standford charged in and underhanded to Dodson who whipped off the bails to get rid of Gokoel for 17 as Suriname fell to 88 for 7. They eventually finished on 92 for 7. Ahmed wrapped up a superb day with the ball by claiming 2 for 12 in four overs.

In the day’s other matches at Brian Piccolo Park, Bahamas suffered two defeats at the hands of Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Bermuda posted 192 for 4 in the morning match before dismissing Bahamas for 65. In the second game, Bahamas were bowled out for 97 before Cayman Islands reached 45 for 2 when rain intervened after eight overs. The match was called with Cayman Islands ahead on Duckworth-Lewis.

USA returns to action at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18 against Bahamas. DreamCricket.com’s live coverage made possible by New Inning Foundation will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST from the Central Broward Regional Park.

USA Cricket: Thyagarajan century headlines trial matches at 2012 National Championship in Florida

openingbat — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:27:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

USA veteran batsman Aditya Thyagarajan produced the top score at this weekend’s 2012 USACA National Championship in Florida as his 109 not out led the Eastern Conference to a 40-run win over the Western Conference on Sunday during a 50-over trial match at Brian Piccolo Park in Cooper City, Florida. The East posted 256 for 4 before bowling out the West for 216 in the 47th over.

The USACA National Championship wasn’t played in the traditional sense compared to previous years. Rather than have teams selected by their respective regions to compete in a round-robin super league event, this edition saw players hand-picked by USACA representing the “East” and “West” shuffle between rosters during the weekend in order to give players as many opportunities as possible to demonstrate their skill level against national talent. Thyagarajan, based in California, played for the West in a Twenty20 trial match on Saturday while one player, Saqib Saleem, batted and bowled within the same innings in the 50-over match on Sunday.

Thyagarajan entered at number five in the sixth over with the score at 19 for 2. Timothy Surujbally had retired hurt while Steven Taylor and Steve Massiah had been dismissed for 6 and 1 respectively after the East won the toss and elected to bat first. Like he has done on many occasions with the national team, Thyagarajan stabilized his team’s innings by building a 76-run stand with Ravi Timbawala, who made 43 in 67 balls.

Image (right) - Aditya Thyagarajan file photo in action against Denmark at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in September. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

After Timbawala fell in the 24th over to Timil Patel, Thyagarajan teamed with Karan Ganesh to add 87 runs for the fourth wicket. Ganesh was caught behind off Japen Patel for 38 following which Thyagarajan added 74 more runs in an unbroken fifth wicket partnership with Adil Bhatti. Bhatti finished 35 not out off 28 balls while Thyagarajan’s unbeaten 109 came off 137 balls with eight fours and a six as the East finished on 256 for 4.

In addition to both Patels, Naseer Jamali and Usman Shuja claimed the other two wickets for the West. Shuja finished with 1 for 18 off five while Jamali had 1 for 29 off seven including a maiden. Ten bowlers were used in the innings by the West.

In reply, the West had several players get starts but with the exception of Orlando Baker, no one was able to turn in a significant score. William Perkins, the Trinidad & Tobago batsman who played one T20 International for the West Indies in 2008, made 20 in 19 balls before departing in the sixth over to the left-arm spin of Danial Ahmed. Japen Patel and Baker added 79 for the second wicket to give the West a solid platform to chase the target of 257, but the West was unable to accelerate and wound up losing by a comfortable margin.

Japen Patel made 40 off 74 balls before being dismissed by Saleem to make it 104 for 2 in the 24th. Timil Patel entered at number four and scored 40 off 54 balls but was trapped LBW by medium pacer Hammad Shahid to make it 173 for 3 in the 38th. Baker retired out on 58 off 80 balls at the end of the over with the score on 174, leaving the West needing 83 runs to win in 12 overs with Sushil Nadkarni and Saleem fresh at the crease.

With nine overs to go, the West needed 69 to win. It was then that Ganesh derailed the West’s chances of chasing the runs by taking three wickets in four balls. Ganesh bowled Nadkarni for 5 off the first ball of the 42nd. Two balls later he had Saami Siddiqui caught by Steven Taylor for a duck. He then followed it up by trapping Abhimanyu Rajp leg before to put himself on a hat-trick as the West slumped to 188 for 7.

Shuja was dimissed by Junaid Rasheed for 8, which was sandwiched between the dismissals of Saleem and Adrian Gordon by Bhatti as the West finished all out for 216 in 46.4 overs. Ganesh took 3 for 6 in two overs while Bhatti claimed 2 for 27 in 6.4 overs. Ahmed finished with solid figures of 1 for 32 in 10 overs including a maiden opening the bowling with Elmore Hutchinson, who finished with 0 for 26 in seven overs with two maidens.

In a Twenty20 match trial match on Saturday, Ahmed took 3 for 12 in four overs with a maiden as the East restricted the West to 100 for 7 in 20 overs before scoring 146 for 7 in 20 overs, batting out their full quota after passing the small target of 101. Ahmed claimed the big scalps of Thyagarajan and Nadkarni as well as Timil Patel to finish with the best bowling figures on the day. Nadkarni’s 30 off 34 balls was the high score in the first innings with 17 extras contributing to the total. Adil Bhatti claimed 2 for 12 in four overs while the other two wickets were a result of runouts.

In the East innings, Taylor was dismissed in the second over without scoring for an early setback. Perkins and Surujbally responded by blitzing the Western bowling unit for 77 runs in just 5.4 overs before both batsmen retired at the end of the seventh over with the score on 86. Perkins tallied 48 off 18 balls with three boundaries and five sixes while Surujbally walked off after scoring 35 off 22 balls including five fours and a six. Japen Patel had the next best contribution with 22 off 28 balls. Leg-spinner Saleem finished with 2 for 22 in four overs, claiming the wickets of Japen Patel and Andy Mohammed. Shahid, Hutchinson and Baker took a wicket each.

USA Cricket: USACA announces East vs. West 2012 National Championship, 2012 Auty Cup squad

openingbat — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:29:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

USACA Press Release

USACA 2012 National Championships November 11, 2012
USACA is pleased to announce that its 2012 National Championship match between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference has been scheduled for November 11 in Florida at Brian Piccolo Park located in Cooper City, Florida. As warm up for the Championship match both teams will square off in a T20 match on November 10 at the same venue.

Eastern Conference Team
Adil Bhatti
Adrian Gordon
Azurdeen Mohammed
Cameron Mirza
Danial Ahmed
Japen Patel
Junaid Rasheed
Shahid Nazir (Malik)
Steve Massiah
Steven Taylor
Timothy Surujbally
Waleed Karimullah

Western Conference Team
Abhimanyu Rajp
Aditya Mishra
Elmore Hutchinson
Hammad Shahid
Khawaja Usman Shuja
Naseer Jamali
Ravi Timbawala
Saami Muneeb Siddiqui
Saqib Saleem
Sushil Nadkarni
Timil Patel
Aditya Thyagarajan

2012 Auty Cup Match Series 2012 November 14 to 17, 2012
USA Cricket Association (USACA) is also pleased to announce that the 2012 version of sports oldest international cricket match – USA v Canada for the Auty Cup - is all set for November 14 and 15 in Florida.

The Auty Cup was first played between USA and Canada in 1844 and sporadically between the two countries ever since. After a gap of about 16 years the series was revived in 2011 as both USA and Canada committed to continue the tradition. Canada hosted in 2011 coming out victorious. In 2012 USA will be hosting the Canadians in Florida and looking to avenge the defeat.

The Auty Cup is a 2-day traditional 2-innings cricket match. However to make the series more interesting and contemporary, additional limited overs matches have been added to the fixtures. A 50 Overs match will be played on November 16 followed by 2 T20 matches on November 17.

Team USA for the Auty Cup Match Series
Steven Taylor
Ryan Corns
Nicholas Stanford
Barrington Bartley
Adrian Gordon
Saami Muneeb Siddiqui
Timothy Surujbally
Azurdeen Mohammed
Japen Patel
Danial Ahmed
Adil Bhatti
Hammad Shahid
Naseer Jamali
Timil Patel

USA plans on using these series of matches to prepare for its next two international assignments, ICC Americas Division 1 T20 (March 2013) and ICC Pepsi WCL Division 3 (April 2013). In addition to current National players many other players hoping to break into the national team will also be participating and will be eager to attract the selectors’ eyes.

USA Cricket: 2012 ICC WCL Division Four Report Card Part 3 -Outlook for 2013 ICC WCL Division Three

openingbat — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:56:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Click here for Part 1 - Team Grades

Click here for Part 2 - Player Grades

Outlook for 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three

Find a committed coach for USA

Next year’s ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda is scheduled for April 28-May 5, right smack in the middle of the IPL. This means that Robin Singh will not be available, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Despite being paid a fee rumored to be five figures per tournament to chaperone USA’s players, the results have been mostly unconvincing for Singh in his efforts at women’s, junior and senior level for USA. Most alarmingly, USA’s fielding has been dreadful at all three levels when he has been in charge despite a reputation staked as a player on fielding excellence.

Outside of a handful of days spent with the USA U-19 team in Florida in February and July 2011, Singh has not spent any time on U.S. soil doing any sort of coaching with USA’s teams. For Division Four, he flew into Malaysia the night before the first match and somehow thought all he had to do was snap his fingers to make magic happen. If Singh doesn’t fly into the Mumbai Indians camp on the night before their first match in the IPL to begin coaching them, why should it be acceptable for him to do the same for the USA and expect the team to respond positively?

Image (right) - Robin Singh most likely will not be around to coach USA at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three due to IPL commitments, not that it will adversely affect USA on the field. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Former USA coach Clayton Lambert may not have been the best tactician, but he knew the strengths, weaknesses and capabilities of all the players he went on tour with because he spent considerable time around the USA at tournaments and training/selection camps to get familiar with the players he’d be working with on tour in order to strategize the best possible batting lineups and bowling combinations. Singh has not devoted any time in the USA to get familiar with USA’s senior players and it is clear that it has negatively impacted the team based on the disjointed results USA has had under his stewardship.

Speaking on behalf of the team, vice-captain Sushil Nadkarni said that USA approached the final match against Nepal by picking what was felt to be the lineup that gave USA the best chance at winning that day rather than giving younger players an opportunity to gain experience against Nepal’s bowling attack in a match where promotion and relegation wasn’t at stake. If USA was honestly going all out for a win that day, there is no reasonable explanation for why Abhimanyu Rajp batted at number three other than to say that the man in charge of setting the batting order, Singh, didn’t have a solid grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of the players who were a part of USA’s squad on tour.

Shifting Timroy Allen up, down and around the batting order cost the team badly in the first game against Nepal. Shifting Aditya Thyagarajan, Aditya Mishra and Orlando Baker all over the place also worked to unsettle and undermine their considerable talents. Players must have defined roles throughout the tournament so they can tailor their games to maximize their output for the team.

USA needs to find a coach, whether currently in the USA or abroad, who is willing to work with the players locally in the USA in camps ahead of Division Three in order to form better plans and figure out the best combinations before the first game begins on April 28, not in the middle of the tournament as was the case at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE and at times during 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia. Asif Mujtaba and Kumaran Thiru, who served separately as assistant coaches for USA in the UAE and Malaysia respectively during USA's two overseas tours this year, are both based in Texas and appear to be qualified coaching candidates with international cricket experience who would be useful if given an opportunity to assume the head coach role for USA.

Better individual accountability for fitness

USA’s players may struggle from tournament to tournament with team chemistry because the players do not play with each other year-round, but there is no excuse for players to show up unfit because they haven’t been playing with other national team players year-round. Fitness is an individual responsibility. Players in California are not responsible for running sprints on behalf of players in Texas or New York and vice versa.

Other teams at the Associate level face the same struggles that USA’s players do as amateurs in terms of getting enough time away from work to dedicate to their games. However, USA’s Associate level opponents are almost always head and shoulders above USA when it comes to their fitness levels despite being fellow amateurs. The fact that this tournament was played during the USA season means that not only were the majority of USA’s players unfit when they showed up for national team duty, it’s highly probable that they are unfit for club cricket duty on a weekly basis as well.

Instead of being the number one priority for USA’s players, it appears that for many of them fitness is something that is addressed if they get around to it. USA may have gotten away with substandard in Division Four, but that will not be the case in Division Three. Anyone who doubts this only needs to check the DreamCricket.com Report Card for 2010 ICC WCL Division Three. USA’s overall fitness contributed heavily to their downfall in the round-robin match against Denmark in Hong Kong and consequently led to them getting relegated.

Image (right) - Sushil Nadkarni's fitness on tour in Malaysia was top notch, but the rest of his teammates need to pick up the slack or else finishing in the top two for Division Three in Bermuda may be difficult. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA went 3-0 on the first day of back-to-back matches in Malaysia and 0-3 on the second day. A similar effort in Bermuda will definitely put USA behind Nepal and most likely put USA behind Italy as well to finish in third place and short of the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand. Quite simply, if USA puts in a similar effort in Bermuda to the one they produced in Malaysia, both individually and as a team, they will finish out of the top two and the consequences will be severe.

An eye to the future

Attempting to qualify for the 2015 ICC World Cup may be the last hurrah for many of USA’s players. Finishing in the top two in Bermuda and then the top two again at the ICC World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand would be a massive achievement and result in clinching a spot at the 2015 ICC World Cup. However, even finishing in the top six at the qualifier would be huge because it would mean that USA would be able to participate in the next cycle of the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

Being in the Intercontinental Cup would not only provide increased funding from the ICC, but would present tremendously valuable opportunities for some of USA’s younger players to gain experience and develop their skills in multi-day cricket on turf wickets against other top-tier Associates without the pressure of promotion and relegation being at stake. Having a bigger and more consistent schedule of matches for USA’s players to participate in might also open the door for several players to be given central contracts for the first time, a major step toward professionalizing the game in the USA.

Conversely, if USA does not achieve these things and with participation virtually non-existent for Associates in a 10-team 2019 ICC World Cup, it is conceivable that many of USA’s senior players would step aside if they failed to reach the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier and/or the 2015 ICC World Cup in order to allow a younger nucleus to form and focus on qualification for the next several ICC World Twenty20 events which are due to have 16 teams in 2014 and 2016.

USA Cricket: 2012 ICC WCL Division Four Report Card Part 2 - Player Grades

openingbat — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:35:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Click here for Part 1 - Team Grades

Player Grades

Sushil Nadkarni – A-: USA’s vice-captain finished as the leading scorer at the tournament with 238 runs at 47.60 and two half-centuries. His century stand with Steven Taylor to open the tournament against the host side set the tone for a solid event. He top scored for USA in three of the five games he played. His highest score, and the highest score at the event by a USA player, was his 84 in the group game against Nepal. If he had been able to bat to the end to score a century and take the team to victory, it would have been perhaps his greatest knock in a USA uniform, but he fell just short thanks to a spectacular catch by Binod Das at backward point.

Nadkarni’s fitness has waxed and waned over the last couple of years depending on the tournament. It was definitely waxing at this event where he looked much slimmer than he was at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in March. Nadkarni and Timroy Allen were the only USA players who never looked tired while at the crease. He was a spritely fielder inside the circle as well, regularly flinging his body along the turf to save runs.

Image (right) - Sushil Nadkarni completes a cut shot against Malaysia. Nadkarni finished as USA's leading scorer for the second tour in a row. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Steven Taylor – B+: The youngest player in the squad may have taken over the mantle from Nadkarni as USA’s most intimidating batsman during this tournament. He finished second overall in the runs list behind Nadkarni with 216 at an average of 36.00 and a strike rate of 104.85. He scored half-centuries against Malaysia and Singapore. The only game he really failed to get going was in the final match against Nepal where he made just 11.

While he had several explosive starts, Taylor somehow managed to get out just when he appeared set to destroy the opposition. He looked tired toward the end of the tournament, particularly in the ways he got out against Nepal so fitness may be something he should focus on, particularly if he is committed to keeping wicket. He finished with six catches and a stumping, but also missed two stumping chances.

Steve Massiah – C-: The reinstalled captain struggled to get going on a day when batting looked easy for everyone else against Malaysia, then looked even more out of sorts against spin versus Denmark. He made his highest score of the tournament against Nepal with 41 coming in at number five, but the batting order was mangled for that match to accommodate him after his early troubles against spin. USA wound up paying for it by the end of the match despite an 89-run stand between him and Nadkarni that put the team on the brink of victory. He finished as USA’s fourth highest scorer on the week with 121 runs at 24.20, but generally did less with more opportunities at his disposal than other batsmen.

In the past, Massiah has typically been one of USA’s most reliable fielders, both on the ground and in the catching department. At this tournament though, he looked a step behind, grassing three catches against Nepal and missing a golden opportunity for a run out early against Denmark. He was also responsible for a slow over rate against Denmark that prevented USA from using some of their more desired options later in the innings though he did well leading the side during a hectic second innings against Singapore by going to spin within a few overs after play resumed following a rain delay.

Aditya Thyagarajan – C-: USA’s leading scorer in 2010 had a lukewarm return from injury at this tournament. He top scored in the team’s warm-up match win over Denmark with 48 coming in at number four, but then managed just 35 runs in four innings during the live matches. He didn’t seem to respond well after being shuffled around the batting order to accommodate others, batting at three different positions for his four innings.

Image (left) - Aditya Thyagarajan in action against Denmark at the Selangor Turf Club. Thyagarajan had a rough return to the national team after missing more than a year due to injury, making 35 runs in four innings. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

He played for the team against Malaysia, going to slog after entering with six overs to go and wound up getting out for 2. He failed against Denmark, then got out cheaply again in a situation that appeared tailor-made for him with 10 overs to go against Nepal. His 21 against Singapore might not look special on paper, but it was part of a vital 59-run stand, providing the anchor at one end to allow Allen to swing away at the other. Thyagarajan also gets credit for his fielding. In a team full of butterfingers, he held on to three solid catches running in from the boundary and never dropped a chance.

Aditya Mishra – C-: Mishra was one of USA’s best batsmen in March at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, but overall in this event he was inconsistent and mixed two decent innings with two failures. He provided a solid late boost against Malaysia scoring 25 off 14 balls and along with Taylor tried to score as quickly as possible against Tanzania to lift the team’s net run rate, which made a huge difference by the end of the tournament. He had two sloppy failures against Denmark and Nepal in the group stage and then threw away his wicket in the final against Nepal after getting a decent start. He’s a batsman who can be classified as a team player after being rotated into three different batting positions to suit the needs of the team, although it wasn’t always to great effect for him personally.

A greater cause for concern for him is his fielding. Along the ground he is okay and generally puts in some good efforts to slide or dive to save balls from going over the boundary. In the air though, he is poor at judging the flight of the ball coming off the bat and it leads to bad mistakes, such as when he ran in from the rope against Nepal for a chance against Paras Khadka only to see the ball go over his head before landing inside the rope and bouncing over for a boundary.

Orlando Baker – C: Someone who didn’t do a lot wrong, but didn’t set the world on fire either on this tour. Baker stabilized USA with help from Allen against Denmark after a middle order collapse, but the pair never got a proper chance to bring USA completely back into the contest once rain intervened. He failed after being thrust into the opening slot against Nepal in the group game and then was somewhat harshly dropped for it. Recalled for the final against Nepal, he showed that he still has some gas left in the tank by grinding out 39 to top score with Nadkarni in the defeat. He finished with 66 runs at an average of 33.00 on tour, USA’s fourth best average in Malaysia.

With the ball, he wasn’t used that much, but took three wickets in 15 overs, a strike rate that other players in the squad would have gladly traded for. He dropped two chances that came his way, a sharp one at square leg against Nepal and a reflex return chance against Malaysia. He also missed a chance to run out Subash Khakurel on 99 in the group game against Nepal and fluffed a stumping late in the final against Nepal after putting on the pads to relieve Taylor. The four misses by Baker summed up a forgettable tour in the fielding department for USA overall. However, the fact that Baker is willing to keep wicket if called upon in an emergency shows his unselfishness for the team.

Timroy Allen – A-: USA’s most dynamic player, Allen showed how much USA missed him last year in Hong Kong and again in the UAE in March. Came in with 15 overs to go against Malaysia and produced his best score in a USA uniform, 72 not out in 43 balls on his way to claiming the first of two Man of the Match awards in Malaysia. Allen topped the averages for USA in the event with 166 runs at 55.33. Had he come in at number seven with 11 overs to go against Nepal instead of number three in the fifth over of the chase during their group game, USA would have had a much better chance of winning that game.

Image (right) - Timroy Allen poses with his Man of the Match award after USA's win over Singapore that clinched a spot in next year's ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

In addition to topping the batting averages for USA, Allen took the most wickets with 10 at an average of 19.80, although he was slightly expensive going at more than five runs per over. Allen also had more chances put down off his bowling than anyone else. USA’s fielders dropped six chances off him and that had an effect on his numbers across the board. In the field, he’s not as energetic as he used to be. He took one catch and put down a sharp one at gully in this tournament. In general he looks more reserved when it comes to throwing his body around, mindful of how he aggravated a back injury in Italy two years ago while diving to stop a boundary in a 10-wicket win over Tanzania.

Ryan Corns – C: When given an opportunity, Corns responded quite well. His stats might not say so, but he was a valuable niche player on tour and has plenty of room to grow into a position where he can be a solid all-rounder for USA in the future. Selecting him as the lone left-arm spin option ahead of Asif Khan was a bold move as Khan is a better pure spinner, but Corns justified the move with some handy performances and the tour did a lot for his continued development.

Batting wise, Corns did about as well as could be expected when thrust into a role he is not suited for, coming in late in the innings to slog quick runs batting at number eight. He finished with 45 runs in three innings at an average of 15.00, his best contribution coming against Singapore with 24 in a tight match. Fielding wise, he needs to work on his throwing accuracy. He is very energetic fielding at point, but dropped a chance and missed two run out opportunities, including a crucial one against Nepal when Subash Khakurel was on 22, before finally converting one against Singapore.

Elmore Hutchinson – B-: Quietly was one of USA’s better bowlers on tour. Hutchinson had the best economy rate for any of USA’s pace bowlers at 3.90 in 40 overs, the second most overs bowled by USA behind Muhammad Ghous. He sometimes had trouble locating his line though, bowling a team-high 14 wide deliveries that went for 19 wide runs out of the 62 wide runs USA conceded. He finished with six wickets, tied with Ghous and Shuja for second on the team.

With the bat, he had USA’s sixth best average on tour, 17.66. Hutchinson scored 53 runs in four innings and was used as a pinch hitter against Tanzania, coming in at three to slog some runs when USA was looking to boost their net run rate. He showed good athleticism overall in the field and despite only taking one catch, never grassed any and always showed tremendous effort and hustle to save balls from going over the boundary.

Image (left) - Elmore Hutchinson bowling against Nepal at Kinrara Academy Oval. Hutchinson was one of USA's better bowlers in Malaysia and finished with the second best economy rate on the team behind Muhammad Ghous. [Courtesy: ICC/Peter Lim]

Abhimanyu Rajp – C-: Rajp was dropped after three games, which may have mystified many back home as he was USA’s second best wicket-taker at the time behind Allen, but his economy rate was frightfully high for a finger-spinner. Rajp shined at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier because it’s a format where a bowler can get away with trading off runs for wickets. A 7.55 economy rate in that event looked okay next to 10 wickets, which was good enough to tie for the team lead. However, a 5.73 economy rate standing next to five wickets in Malaysia was not good enough. Rajp has a learning curve to adjust to in 50-over cricket. He must strike a balance between being economical and attacking for wickets.

With the bat, he was bizarrely asked to bat at number three in the final against Nepal in his only appearance at the crease and didn’t score. Fielding wise, teams aren’t afraid to take him on in the circle and he missed a critical run out chance against Andreas Lambert of Denmark, but in the air he is one of USA’s sure-handed fielders. He got official credit for two catches but also took two other very crucial ones as a sub fielder in a tense battle against Singapore.

Usman Shuja – C: Shuja was named Man of the Match in an easy win over Tanzania after taking 3 for 14. Overall though, he was very average. In the other four games he played against Singapore, Denmark and twice against Nepal, he took just 3 wickets for 116 runs. While he was economical against Denmark, he struggled to make the most of the new ball when conditions were in his favor in that match, taking 1 for 20 in seven overs. Entering the tournament, he had a phenomenal record against Nepal with 14 wickets in six games at an average of 11.86 and an economy rate of 3.25. In the two matches USA played against Nepal in Malaysia, Shuja finished with 1 for 75 in 12 overs.

Shuja had multiple chances dropped off his bowling in the group game against Nepal, but in general was just not as effective as he usually is. His batting has also been marginalized by the current management. This is the same player who rescued USA from 20 for 7 against Oman and took them to a remarkable two-wicket win at Division Three in Hong Kong last year by scoring 43 not out. He is good enough to bat at number eight, definitely no lower than nine but he was sent in at numbers 10 and 11 in this tournament and responded by batting down to that level, scoring 4 runs in three innings.

Muhammad Ghous – B: After going through a sophomore slump in 2011, Ghous has bounced back during his third year with the senior team to be a dependable performer. He had the best economy rate for the team on tour with 3.62 runs per over in a team high 48.3 overs. He can sometimes look lethargic when not a lot is at stake, but put Ghous in a pressure-packed situation and he is very hard to rattle. He was chiefly responsible for the shift in momentum during the second innings against Singapore. After batsman Chetan Suryawanshi flew out of the gate following the rain delay, Ghous reeled Singapore back in by applying outstanding pressure. It didn’t take long for dot balls to turn into wickets.

Like Mishra, Ghous reacts very poorly when the ball comes off the bat in the air and it can result in some angst for his fellow bowlers. When the ball travels directly to him though, he is a solid catching fielder. He put down a difficult return chance in the final against Nepal, but took two catches during the tournament. He finished tied for second with Shuja and Hutchinson by taking six wickets, but also had three chances dropped off his bowling.

Andy Mohammed – Incomplete: Mohammed played two matches, batting just once at number four against Singapore in the final group game. He entered in the 21st over in a situation that called for pushing the ball around for singles and doubles to rebuild in the middle overs after both openers had been dismissed. Instead, he kept trying to slog Singapore’s spinners for six. He succeeded once before being caught on the boundary for 10. Mohammed needs to show greater maturity and awareness of match situations to get more opportunities in the future. In the field, he converted a run out chance against Tanzania and had a brilliant diving catch against Singapore to spark USA’s fightback in the field.

Akeem Dodson – Incomplete: Dodson only played one match, scoring 3 against Singapore. He took one catch behind the stumps but also missed a straightforward stumping. Regardless of whether he was fielding inside the boundary or wearing a 12th man’s pinnie outside of it, no one brought more positive energy to the team when they were at the ground than Dodson. He’s eager to improve and his attitude demonstrates he has unwavering commitment to the team, supporting the squad wholeheartedly whether he plays no match or every match.

Click here for Part 1 - Team Grades

Coming up in Part 3 - Outlook for 2013 ICC WCL Division Three

USA Cricket: Squad ready to do battle at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia

openingbat — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:41:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna in Kuala Lumpur (on Twitter)

Nineteen months after the heartache of a last place finish and relegation in Hong Kong, USA will attempt to reestablish a positive presence in 50-over cricket on Monday at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Kuala Lumpur, the next phase of qualifying for the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. USA needs a top two finish to advance back into ICC WCL Division Three, which will take place next year in Bermuda from April 28-May 5.

USA captain Steve Massiah makes his return to the squad after missing the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier when his travel was restricted after a November arrest in connection with an alleged $50 million mortgage fraud scheme. Speaking publicly for the first time since November, Massiah said at the captains’ press conference on the eve of the tournament that he doesn’t feel he let the team down at all for having to miss the tour to the UAE.

“I don’t think I’ve let the team down,” Massiah said. “Due to certain personal circumstances I wasn’t able to make it. I’m here to do my best for the United States of America, do whatever it takes for us to achieve qualification.”

Image (right) - Steve Massiah at the opening press conference for 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Two other players returning to the squad on this tour are Timroy Allen and Aditya Thyagarajan. Both players are making comebacks after injuries.

“It’s a pleasure to be back and first and foremost I must say I really do appreciate the selectors giving me this opportunity, helping the USA get back where we’re supposed to be. It felt really good to be back with my teammates,” Allen said. He also doesn’t want to go home regretting a missed opportunity and wants to get the event started with a win against Malaysia in the opening match at Bayuemas Oval.

“It’s a long flight here and I really don’t want to go back home without holding something so I’m really ready for this tournament. I have no doubt in my team that we’ll come out on top in this game because these guys are basically hungry for a win and we want to give all our spectators back home something to start off with and we don’t want to fall in a hole right off the top.”

Allen took 2 for 37 in 10 overs in the team’s warm-up match win over Denmark on Thursday. Massiah says Allen’s value to USA is immense because of the many ways in which he can be used.

“He performs a dual role for me in the sense that he opens the bowling and also I have the option of using him as a spinner if the wicket is conducive to it and he’s a tremendous lower order batsman,” Massiah said. “In my humble opinion he’s probably the most talented cricketer in America.”

Meanwhile, Thyagarajan top scored with 48 coming in at number four in the warm-up match against Denmark, his first match in a USA uniform since injuring his right knee at 2011 ICC WCL Division Three in Hong Kong, and says he’s looking forward to the opportunity to make his mark once more for USA.

“It’ll be a personal challenge playing six games in eight days first tournament after injury but I’m looking forward to it and positive that I’ll be able to get through it and hopefully do well for the team,” Thyagarajan said. Allen says he’s extremely happy to make a return to the squad alongside Thyagarajan.

“Aditya has always been a fighter for us,” Allen said. “It’s not like we’re gonna go out and depend on one batsman, but that’s one person you can really depend on. If he gets out, it’s not because of a crazy shot. He probably got a good ball. He’s patient and focused and I just love when he’s in the team.”

One player who looked noticeably slimmer during the team’s training session on Sunday was Sushil Nadkarni, who says he’s lost 10 to 15 pounds through a refined training regimen since the team returned in March from the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

“After the Dubai tour and working with Robin a little bit in that tournament, I kind of realized some of the things I needed to work on when I was putting my time in the gym,” Nadkarni said. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t putting time in the gym before, but I just realized after talking to him and others where I should be focusing or what are the different things I should be doing. So I’ve been focusing on a lot of sprinting, a lot of running. I’ve been doing some weight training as well so I’m trying to do activities that would help me optimize or maximize my performance on the cricket field.”

As far as the team composition for the first match against Malaysia, the tour management may have a difficult decision on their hands with key players Usman Shuja, Aditya Mishra and Steven Taylor all arriving in Malaysia on Sunday afternoon less than 24 hours before the start of the tournament. All three looked exhausted at the tournament’s opening ceremony just a few hours removed from more than 20 hours of flights from the USA. Massiah says their status will be assessed in the morning before a game-time decision is made.

Image (left) - USA's Akeem Dodson, Andy Mohammed, Abhimanyu Rajp, bowling coach Charlie Javed and Ryan Corns at the the tournament opening ceremony. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

“It’s the first game and we’d like to start on a winning note so probably we’ll go with our best combination for tomorrow because it’s important that we start well so this way we’re not behind the eight ball,” Massiah said. “We’ll make a game time decision tomorrow as to how they feel. But obviously it’ll take them at least two days for them to recover. Hopefully they can be fine. We trust their judgment and we’ll do whatever it takes to help the team so we just have to see how they feel.”

USA has gone through a similar situation in the recent past with poor results. At 2010 ICC WCL Division Five in Nepal, Nadkarni missed the first two matches while attending to some work obligations back in Texas, then flew in and was slotted back into the lineup straightaway against Jersey and Singapore for the third and fourth matches of the tournament. He made 1 off 7 balls and a golden duck respectively so Nadkarni is very aware of the challenge that lies ahead for Shuja, Mishra and Taylor.

“Talking about myself, it was tough,” Nadkarni said. “It was about a 25-hour flight and then a change in timings and everything. It was a little bit tough to get into the ground and play an international game the next day. Overall it does take its toll on your body and you might find yourself a little sluggish in the field because your body is trying to catch up to the time differences, etc.”

Thyagarajan knows this will be a tough event, but if they can grind out a top two finish, the path ahead will be easier in the spring at 2013 WCL Division Three where Bermuda, Italy, Oman and Uganda await the two teams that get promoted at the end of this tournament in Malaysia.

“I think this will be an extremely tough tournament,” Thyagarajan said. “This reminds me of the Division Five tournament in Nepal. Like I said then, if we get through Five, we’ll surely get through Four. I say the same thing here. If we get through Four, we’ll surely get through Three. Everybody needs to play really well.”

DreamCricket.com will have live coverage for all of USA’s matches at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four beginning with the team’s first match on Monday against Malaysia from Bayuemas Oval. Each match is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. EST and 7:30 p.m. PST the previous day in America.

USA Cricket: Abhimanyu Rajp's journey leads him from the land of Ludhiana to the USA National Team

openingbat — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 11:01:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna in (on Twitter)

It’s the second match of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier for USA and the game is five overs old when the captain decides to toss the ball to the debutant off-spinner. Under normal circumstances, it might be cause for feelings of nervousness to overwhelm a new bowler. Gripping the ball too tight could result in a half-tracker, clammy hands could cause the ball to slip out too early and result in a full toss, either ball probably winding up as a four or six for the batsman. Abhimanyu Rajp might have been a little nervous when bowling his first ball at the senior international level for USA, but he didn’t show it simply because he didn’t have the time.

“Normally you’re told, ‘You’re up next over,’ but Sushil didn’t do that,” Rajp said, referring to the moment his captain in the UAE, Sushil Nadkarni called his number. “He just tossed me the ball and said, ‘Abhi, come on.’ I was taken a bit by surprise so I didn’t have much time to think about anything.”

Moments later, Rajp landed one of his sharp spinning off-break deliveries right where he wanted it. The batsman, Italy’s Andy Northcote, played over the top of the good length ball and was struck on the pads.

“I think all of Abu Dhabi heard my appeal. As soon as I delivered that ball and hit Northcote’s pads I knew that I had him. That was really special.” It’s a moment Rajp says he’ll never forget, getting his first wicket on his very first delivery for USA. It’s just one of many special moments in the cricketing journey of Rajp.

Rajp was born in Ludhiana in Punjab, India, and like most kids took to the streets to play the game with his friends.

“When you’re growing up and you’re six years old, you don’t know who Sachin is or who Gavaskar was. You’re just playing for the fun of the sport. I had a good friend in my neighborhood and we were always just playing this game every day.”

One of Rajp’s older sisters says that as far as she can remember, she would always see him walking around with a cricket bat in his hands.

“When he used to go to the cricket camp, the willow bat used to be taller than him,” Milli Rajp said. “He was that tiny when he started.” While Rajp is known for his off-break deliveries now, he claims he began his cricketing career as a seam bowler who also kept wicket, but shifted to bowling spin in a fateful match while representing the Ludhiana Cricket Association in an U-12 tournament.

“We were playing on a pitch where the ball was turning square and our main spinner had finished all his overs,” Rajp said. “We wanted someone to spin the ball and I was keeping at the time. So I said I’ll take off my gloves and give it a try. I ended up being the second highest wicket-taker of that tournament bowling off-spin and that’s where I discovered I can spin the ball and should be a spinner and not a wicketkeeper.”

Rajp continued progressing through Ludhiana’s age group teams as a spinner. While his parents emphasized the importance of schoolwork, especially since his mother worked as an English teacher, both his mom and dad fully supported his cricket ambitions and paid for him to participate in summer cricket camps. Then in 1999, the family’s green card application was approved and in the summer of 2000 Rajp arrived in the USA as a 14-year-old.

But rather than have his cricket dreams dashed, they only seemed to grow stronger. The family settled in California’s San Fernando Valley with the cricket fields at Woodley close by in Van Nuys. Rajp joined Ventura Cricket Club the following spring and began playing with them for the next five seasons in the Southern California Cricket Association.

Image (right) - Abhimanyu Rajp bowls against Scotland at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. [Courtesy: ICC/Ian Jacobs]

Rajp went to try out for the USA U-19 team in 2003 prior to the squad traveling to the ICC Americas U-19 tournament, but was ineligible for selection because he did not meet the ICC’s four-year residency requirement. In the meantime, Rajp got connected with Ashok Patel’s US Cricket Academy and began going on tours with them to the Caribbean which provided valuable learning experiences for him over the next several years.

“I played a lot on those tours and you learn a lot,” Rajp said. “A cricket player has all this knowledge about what to do and how to do it, but the main thing is when to do it, when to apply that knowledge to the best of your abilities. It was just about when to set what kind of fields, what works for what bowler and for yourself, how can you do better against this batsman, what kind of field you should set for him, basically trying to understand all aspects of the game. You have coaches there but it’s your first time getting exposure to real turf and real stadiums. We had not played in those kind of facilities in the USA. Playing in your age group, the best way you can learn is playing with other players who don’t know anything. For young players, that’s the best experience you can get. You don’t know anything and they don’t know anything so you’re all learning together and trying to understand the game as a unit and that helps a lot.”

Rajp also gives a lot of credit to former USA player Reggie Benjamin for coaching him and other youth players locally in Southern California when there wasn’t a lot of activity going on at the national level for junior cricketers.

“Having Reginald Benjamin on my side over here, who used to be one of the main youth guys when the youth movement started, he was always here and he’s the one who started coaching us with the help of Nazim Shirazi,” Rajp said.

In 2005, Rajp went to another tryout for the USA U-19 team and this time managed to be selected. However, there was a lot of doubt whether or not he would get to play any games for USA since USACA had just been suspended by the ICC and the U-19 team’s participation at the ICC Americas tournament was in doubt.

“The communication was very hazy at that time. Nobody knew whether we were gonna go or not. A week before the tour we found out it was on. We’re going. The tickets are coming. The tickets came a couple days before we had to fly and then we went to Canada.”

Despite the hectic leadup to the tournament, Rajp says the team felt okay about their chances entering the first day of the 2005 ICC Americas U-19 tournament against defending champions Canada because most of the USA players had played with each other on the US Cricket Academy tours.

“The camaraderie had started a lot earlier than the 2003 tour so by 2005 everybody had a good idea of who was capable of what,” Rajp said. “When we landed, we basically had one day of practice and it was basically for the guys people hadn’t seen before and for the coach Larry Gomes to find out who was gonna be the off-spinner, the leg-spinner, the batsmen, the slip fielder.”

USA defeated Canada in the first match by 39 runs and never looked back on an undefeated run to the tournament title, clinching a spot at the 2006 ICC U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. Rajp was the standout bowler in Canada, taking a tournament best 11 wickets which included five-wicket hauls against Argentina and Bermuda.

In Sri Lanka, Rajp finished tied for the team lead in wickets with eight, which included 5 for 61 against New Zealand. Among the scalps he claimed in that match was future Test batsman Martin Guptill. USA also faced off against West Indies, Australia and South Africa in the group stage, whose squads contained numerous future senior international representatives including Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Sunil Narine, Craig Kieswetter, Richard Levi, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Wade and David Warner.

“It was a real eye-opener for myself and my ability to bowl against the likes of David Warner and guys who are now at Test level,” Rajp said. “It was a surreal experience for us. By no means could we say we were better than them or as good as them in our ability, but we can say that if the players in the USA play every day like those players play then there is no reason why we can’t beat them. But because we are weekend cricketers, we got beaten at the end.”

“We were playing the West Indies with Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach, William Perkins and we have them 8 for 2 in the first two overs and a dropped catch off William Perkins and we are feeling on top of the world because we are doing some major damage and after that catch was dropped [Perkins made 133]. Every game, we were in it for a certain amount of time because every team took us lightly. They thought, ‘USA? Who the hell is USA?’ but when we got on the field and started playing and started giving them heart attacks, that’s when they started getting serious that this is a team to be reckoned with and they had to play with more responsibility and not think it’s just an easy 50 or easy 100. That’s when the game got away from us because their talent was better than ours but our determination was probably better than theirs to get them to those points in those games.”

“If you analyze all three of those group games, we had 140 in 25 overs for the loss of two wickets against West Indies. What more do you want from an Associate team chasing 300? That doesn’t happen. South Africa we had them 101 for 5. We needed two more quick wickets and we could’ve had them out for 150. Australia we scored [148] against them and we had them 53 for 4 so a couple more wickets and we might have had them, but almost doesn’t count. That goes to show that we only played weekends. If we played every day, we could have beat some of these guys.”

Rather than be demoralized about losing all but one match in that tournament, Rajp says he came out of it gaining more confidence from the experience because of those moments when USA was able to stand toe-to-toe with the heavyweights.

“The one thing I took away from that tournament was that we belonged. We can do it at that level. Every time I think about that tournament, it’s made me realize that yes I can do it. I can bowl against these guys and get them out. I can get a five-wicket haul at a World Cup stage against a Test nation. I can do good.”

Despite his personal success at the junior level in Sri Lanka, Rajp had to bide his time before breaking into the USA senior side. He stayed on the outside looking in for six years and says he kept his spirits high after receiving encouragement from several national team players.

Aditya Thyagarajan, who has been a teammate with Rajp on South West Region teams and plays against Rajp’s Cosmos CC side regularly in the SCCA Division One competition, says that Rajp has become a more complete bowler in recent years after altering his approach to batsmen at the senior level compared to what he was doing at the Under-19 level.

“Over the last two or three years he has really improved and he’s understood the value as an off-spinner to bowl the ball consistently on one spot,” Thyagarajan said. “Like any talented youngster, he was trying to take a wicket every ball and that just doesn’t work at the senior level, especially when you’re an off-spinner or finger-spinner. So I kept talking to him over the years about how you need to improve your consistency. I think over the last two years I really saw him take that advice really well and the results have been very clear.”

In 2010, Rajp was the leading wicket-taker in USACA national tournaments including 7 for 35 in one match at the USACA Western Conference tournament in September of that year at Woodley as he hovered around the national team selection radar. However, he was passed over for both of USA’s squads at ICC tournaments in 2011. Rajp tried to be philosophical about it and remained patient.

“I am the kind of person who does not keep any expectations. Any time I’m playing cricket, I’m not playing to get selected for another team. I’m playing to do well for my team on that day,” Rajp said. “I never went out and said, ‘Why are they not picking me?’ I always think that when the time is right, it will happen. I didn’t take it in a bad way when they didn’t call me or select me because in the back of my mind I was always thinking this is not my time yet.”

Rajp’s time finally arrived in March when he got selected to go to the UAE for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. He delivered from the moment Nadkarni first tossed the ball his way against Italy right through to the end of the event as he finished tied with Muhammad Ghous for the team lead in wickets as both off-spinners took 10.

Image (left) - Rajp bowls against Italy in his first tournament match in a USA senior uniform this past march. [Courtesy: ICC/Ian Jacobs]

“I think Abhimanyu’s addition to the team has been fantastic,” Nadkarni said at the end of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. “I think for a long time we had Ghous who made an impact as soon as he came into the team. Now I feel like we have another bowler who can support Ghous and who is a wicket-taking option so I think Abhimanyu is a great addition to the team.”

Although he had the experience of playing against future Test players at the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2006, Rajp says playing in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was a completely different experience.

“It was a real eye-opener. The level of competition is so much harder and higher than what we’re accustomed to playing in US club cricket culture,” Rajp said. “You have to be on the ball from ball one. There is no margin for error. You miss and they hit.”

“When you are coming in to bowl you better bet on your eye that the guy who is batting in front of you is ready to launch your first ball for six. If you are coming in to bat, you can bet that the first ball is either coming at your head straight to take your helmet off or to break your toe off. The intensity and focus that’s required is so much higher than you’re used to. You have to be completely focused.”

“I learned a lot from bowling against almost everybody. The quality of opposition that we were playing was obviously great quality. Bowling against them, every game I was learning more and more stuff about my bowling and how to bowl to such batsmen as Ed Joyce and Kevin O’Brien. I’ve never in my whole life bowled around the wicket. It was the first time in my life bowling around the wicket to Kevin O’Brien because I had taken the advice from Robin Singh and Mark Johnson telling me to try to come around the wickets to see if the batsman has a little tough time against you with those angles because I do get a lot of turn. That’s one thing I tried that worked and I never tried that. Small things like that make a huge difference at that level.”

Even though it was a Twenty20 tournament in March, the experience gained from bowling to players like O’Brien and Joyce will serve Rajp well as he gets ready to make his 50-over debut for USA at 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Four next week in Malaysia. He continued his good overall form by claiming 3 for 33 in 10 overs in USA’s warm-up match against Denmark on August 30 and will look to keep it up in the live matches beginning on Monday against Malaysia.

While Rajp has experienced a tremendous amount of success on the field throughout his cricket career, he says none of it would have been possible without the support of his family. From the time he represented Ludhiana to his exploits for the USA at the junior and senior levels, they have been his biggest fans.

“Whatever I’ve achieved so far has been the blessing of my mom and my family,” Rajp said. “They’ve really supported me and helped me in a way that a family can. My dad, my mom, my sisters have been really influential in my whole life.”

Away from cricket, Rajp graduated from California State University, Northridge in 2010 with a degree in finance and began working for biotech company Amgen that same year at the company’s headquarters in Thousand Oaks. He also has a singing alter ego, recording under the name Musafir Ludhianvi as part of Suvah Entertainment whose other members include Brainstorm and Apartment E. The songs are sung in Punjabi and Hindi.

“Musafir Ludhianvi means a lone traveler from the land of Ludhiana,” Rajp says. “It’s a fun thing. I write my own songs and I sing. I’m not a good singer, I’m ok and the producers help me out a lot. We spend one day a week, we have a dedicated day that we go into the studio and have our sessions, whether it’s studio recording or writing lyrics or working on tracks or perfecting a track. All of us work. All of us have other commitments plus music doesn’t pay. It’s something that we are passionate for. Other than cricket, there’s another passion I have which is singing.”

Rajp became a US citizen in 2007 and while his music is a way for him to maintain a strong connection to his Indian roots, he is proud to be able to represent the USA on the cricket field. He’s still just 26 and if he continues the strong start he had for the senior team earlier this year, he could be representing USA on the cricket field for many years to come.

“Obviously this country has given me a lot so I owe a lot to this country, from cricket to making me as a person who I am today,” Rajp said. “You don’t get some of these opportunities back in your motherland, although I do love my motherland, but there’s pros and cons to everything. I still love India but there’s a lot that I owe to the USA and I’m very grateful that I’ve landed here and gotten through so many different feats in my life in the United States. Being able to represent the United States is also a privilege and an honor and a gesture for me to give something back to this country also by doing good for this sport in this country for this country. It’s my country and that’s what I want to do.”

USA Cricket: USA beats Denmark by 4 wickets in Malaysia warm-up fixture

openingbat — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:37:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna in (on Twitter)

USA exercised some mental demons on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur when they defeated Denmark by four wickets in a warm-up fixture at Royal Selangor Club ahead of 2012 ICC WCL Division Four, which starts Monday in Malaysia. In January 2011, USA lost twice to Denmark at ICC WCL Division Three in Hong Kong, failing to chase targets of 194 and 241, but on Thursday they were set 173 to win and managed to get across the line with 15 overs to spare.

USA won the toss at Royal Selangor Club and sent Denmark in to bat. The three players in USA’s squad who didn’t participate in the warm-up are the three players still yet to arrive in Malaysia: Aditya Mishra, Usman Shuja and Steven Taylor. However, USA’s victory without them will give the squad a big confidence boost knowing that they won without three players who will almost certainly be in USA’s first choice starting XI come Monday, September 3 in USA’s first match of the tournament against Malaysia.

Denmark’s highest score off the bat came from opener Shehzad Ahmed, who made 25 off 62 balls, as no one was able to go on to make a significant score after getting a start. The biggest partnership of the innings for Denmark was 47 runs for the second wicket between Ahmed and Anders Lambert, who made 22. It was broken by Muhammad Ghous, who had Ahmed caught behind by Akeem Dodson, one of three dismissals completed by the wicketkeeper.

The second high score in the innings for Denmark came from extras with 24, including eight byes. USA’s bowling attack turned in a solid combined performance. Playing in his first match in a USA uniform since July 2011, Timroy Allen opened the bowling and took 2 for 37 in 10 overs with three maidens. Left-arm seamer Elmore Hutchinson finished with 0 for 18 off six and Orlando Baker took 1 for 26 in seven.

In the spin department, Ghous claimed 1 for 25 in 10 overs while fellow off-spinner Abhimanyu Rajp finished with USA’s best figures on the day, taking 3 for 33 off 10 including the wickets of Lambert and Denmark captain Michael Pedersen. USA captain Steve Massiah took 2 for 15 in six overs while Ryan Corns bowled one over, taking 0 for 7. Denmark was 74 for 1 at one stage but lost wickets at fairly regular intervals from there on out, eventually getting bowled out on the final ball of the innings for 172.

Dodson and Sushil Nadkarni opened the batting for USA. The side stumbled at the start of the chase when Dodson was dismissed for a second-ball duck followed six balls later by the departure of Massiah for 5 to put USA in an early hole at 11 for 2 in the third over.

Aditya Thyagarajan joined Nadkarni and the two veterans steadied the ship for USA by adding 74 for the third wicket. Nadkarni scored at the quicker pace, eventually finishing with 41 off 36 balls, including five fours and three sixes before he was dismissed by Hamid Shah in the 15th over.

Image (right) - Aditya Thyagarajan file photo. [Courtesy: Bryan Vandenburgh/ICC]

Corns came in and scored 12 off 29 at number five before he was bowled by Henrik Hansen to make it 110 for 4 at the start of the 23rd. Thyagarajan, playing in his first match for USA since getting injured against Denmark in Hong Kong last year, fell just short of a half-century when he was caught behind off Hansen for 48 off 78 balls, including seven fours and a six, to make it 133 for 5.

Baker fell LBW for 11 in the 32nd to leave the score at 151 for 6 and give Denmark a sniff at victory but Andy Mohammed and Allen erased any doubts with a 27 run-stand off just 19 balls to seal the match for USA. Mohammed struck four boundaries in his 18 not out off 20 balls while Allen clubbed two sixes, including one maximum that brought up the winning runs, in his short stay to finish 14 not out off 10 balls as USA sealed the win with 90 balls remaining.

DreamCricket.com will have live coverage for all of USA’s matches at ICC WCL Division Four beginning with the team’s first match on Monday against Malaysia from Bayuemas Oval. Each match is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. EST and 7:30 p.m. PST the previous day in America.

USA Cricket: USA faces host side Malaysia on September 3 to start 2012 ICC WCL Division Four

openingbat — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:20:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

For the second World Cricket League event in a row, USA has been assigned to play the host nation in the first match of the tournament as they face off against Malaysia at Bayuemas Oval on September 3 to kick off 2012 ICC WCL Division Four according to an ICC press release. The déjà vu continues on the tournament’s second day when USA takes on Denmark, a match that will be held at Selangor Turf Club.

At 2011 ICC WCL Division Three, USA took on hosts Hong Kong and defeated them easily by seven wickets only to stumble badly on day two of tournament play against Denmark. USA dropped Denmark captain Michael Pedersen three times on his way to 78 not out in a total of 193 for 6. USA was at 84 for 2 chasing in the 16th over when a spectacular collapse resulted in the team being bowled out for 163 in 39.5 overs. Aditya Thyagarajan suffered a severely dislocated right knee in the match and hasn’t played for USA since then while rehabbing the injury but Thyagarajan was selected to return to the senior squad for next month’s tour to Malaysia.

After a day off on September 5, USA returns to action at Kinrara Oval, site of the 2008 ICC U-19 World Cup Final, when they matchup with Tanzania on September 6. A day later, they return to the same venue to face off against Nepal, a team that has become one of USA’s biggest rivals outside of the Americas over the last several years. In their most recent matchup, USA beat Nepal in a crucial showdown at 2010 ICC WCL Division Four in Italy by 55 runs with Sushil Nadkarni scoring a vital 64 not out in USA’s total of 203 for 8 before phenomenal spells by Usman Shuja (3 for 17) and Muhammad Ghous (3 for 31) sealed the win for USA.

After another rest day on September 8, USA returns to Bayuemas Oval for the final match in group play when they face Singapore. USA lost to Singapore by 99 runs the last time the two teams met, which was in 2010 at ICC WCL Division Five in Nepal. Left-arm spinner Jackie Manoj-Kumar tormented USA on the day, wiping out the middle order to finish with 4 for 23 as USA was bowled out for 146, but USA won’t have to worry about him in Malaysia as Manoj-Kumar is not in Singapore’s 14-man squad for the event.

After the round-robin stage finishes on September 9, the teams will be placed into a first place, third place and fifth place playoff on September 10. The first place playoff will take place at Kinrara Oval, the third place playoff at Selangor Turf Club and the fifth place playoff at Bayuemas Oval. The top two teams in the tournament will be promoted to 2013 ICC WCL Division Three, which takes place April 28-May 5 in Bermuda. The two promoted teams will join Bermuda, Italy, Oman and Uganda in Division Three. The bottom two finishers at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four will be relegated to ICC WCL Division Five.

USA’s squad is scheduled to depart the USA for Malaysia on August 26 and arrive on August 28 for six days of training and acclimatization before the first match against Malaysia on September 3. It is currently unknown if USA will have any warm-up matches in Malaysia prior to the first match.

DreamCricket.com will provide live coverage of all of USA’s matches at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia. Each match is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. EST and 7:30 p.m. PST the previous day in America.