USA Cricketer : USACA

USA Cricket: 24 players announced for 2013 USA U-19 selection combine

openingbat — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:02:00 GMT

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USACA Media Release

After a month of Regional trials across the nation, The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), today announced that it has sent letters of invitation to 24 players to attend its inaugural U19 Combine to be held in Florida from May 31 to June 2, 2013.

An invitation to this inaugural USACA Combine is an honor and it gives players the opportunity to advance their cricket education and be part of the USACA Talented Player Pathway designed to track and support players from the youth level all the way up into the National senior team.

By attending the Combine players will be included in USACA Talented Player database and will be targeted for future skills development. Performance at the local level will be monitored on an on-going basis.

The format of the Combine will include speed, endurance and strength tests and cricketing skills testing along with a series of matches of varying lengths. The Combine also provides the opportunity to assess technical, tactical, physical and mental strengths. All tests will be measurable to allow for direct comparisons between players.

Selwyn Caesar, Chair of USACA National Selection Committee commented “The USACA U19 Combine was designed to prepare players who were identified during the evaluation period. The selected players would be participating in multiple facets of physical training, dexterity and other cricket related activities which would be managed by Mr. Andy Pick, ICC Americas High Performance Manager in conjunction with coaches and other specialist trainers.”

The Combine is one component of the USA National U19 Team preparation for ICC Americas U19 Tournament to be held in Toronto, Canada from July 7 to 15, 2013. Participating countries are USA, Bermuda and Canada. The winner automatically advances to ICC U19 2014 World Cup to be held in UAE.

List of players invited to USACA U19 Combine:

Raj Bhavasar AR
Rishi Patel AR
Ryan Persaud AR
Salman Ahmed CER
Jay Pathak CWR
Vibhav Altekar NWR
Arsh Buch NWR
Krish Goel NWR
Dave Parikh NWR
Roshan Varadarajan NWR
Omar Afridi NYR
Clifford Hamilton NYR
Aown Iqbal NYR
Amarnauth Persaud NYR
Keifer Phill NYR
Travis Ross NYR
Waqas Shah NYR
Randal Wilson NYR
Kwiese Edmondson SER
Patrick Palmer SER
Steven Taylor SER
Omari Williams SER
Shakeel Ahmad SWR
Sahaj Patel SWR

USA Cricket: Alan Isaac and David Richardson of ICC complete USA leg of North American tour

openingbat — Mon, 13 May 2013 01:15:00 GMT

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ICC President Alan Isaac, Chief Executive David Richardson and Global Development Manager Tim Anderson yesterday completed the first phase of their tour of North America, concluding their trip to the United States of America.

The delegation visited New York, Washington DC and Connecticut, where it met with a range of stakeholders including the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), the US State Department, the New York Police Department (NYPD), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the City of Indianapolis and the holder of ICC’s broadcast rights in the USA, ESPN.

A visit to a Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) cricket match in Brooklyn also took place.

The trophy of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, to be staged in England and Wales from 6 to 23 June, was also displayed at various locations. This event will be broadcast across the USA on ESPN3.

At the conclusion of the USA trip, Mr Isaac said: “The development of emerging markets is a major focus of the ICC as we strive to achieve our vision of cricket becoming a bigger, better global game. The United States is a key territory in this regard, and we believe the potential for future expansion is exciting.

“It’s been a pleasure to meet the national governing body for cricket in the US, USACA, in order to understand its plans and challenges, as well as a range of other stakeholders that we feel have an important role in the future development of cricket in the USA.”

USACA President Gladstone Dainty thanked the ICC delegation for its visit, saying: “We are delighted that the ICC leadership team has visited the USA in order to witness first-hand the current status of cricket in the country.

“USACA is establishing a new strategic direction for the development of the sport in the USA, with the vision to make cricket a sport for all Americans. We look forward to continually working with the ICC, and our other partners, to make this vision a reality.”

The delegation left the USA yesterday for the second leg of the North American tour in Canada. Meetings will take place with Cricket Canada in Toronto, while the ICC Development Committee will also be held.

[Source: ICC Media Release]

USA Cricket: Nadkarni's gritty 73 sets up Allen's 51* as USA beats Italy by 74 runs in Bermuda

openingbat — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:40:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Bermuda (on Twitter)

DreamCricket.com's coverage on site from Bermuda at 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three is sponsored by New Inning Foundation.

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation I Match Commentary

USA captain Steve Massiah and vice-captain Sushil Nadkarni grinded out a vital 78-run third wicket partnership that laid the platform for a late burst from Timroy Allen to give USA enough runs to defend as they defeated Italy by 74 runs on Monday at the National Stadium in Hamilton, Bermuda, at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three. Allen was named Man of the Match after notching 51 not out in 26 balls.

USA won the toss and elected to bat under a bright sun but as the players took the field, a large amount of cloud cover came over the ground producing ideal bowling conditions for Italy. Opening seamers Gayashan Munasinghe and Vince Pennazza removed USA’s openers within the first five overs as Orlando Baker was trapped LBW for 2 while Taylor was caught at mid off for 6 to make it 10 for 2.

Nadkarni then joined Massiah at the crease and the experience of the pair shone through in a determined stand. Massiah was on 10 off 24 balls at one point and Nadkarni 7 off 39 as they sought to leave and defend as many deliveries as possible under trying conditions. By the time Munasinghe and Pennazza had finished each of their opening 6-over spells, USA was at 31 for 2 after 12.

“It was tough,” Nadkarni said. “When I went in there I immediately realized for the fast bowlers it was doing something on the wicket and the conditions were not that great for some stroke-making immediately. So Steve and I decided to consolidate and build a partnership and Steve got going pretty quick after that and raced to his 50 so I think that was kind of the building blocks for us in this innings.”

Massiah broke free initially with three boundaries in the space of six deliveries to get USA some momentum. The first was courtesy of a misfield at point before Massiah elected to go the aerial route over mid off. The third boundary in the sequence was a wristy flick through mid on as USA began fighting back from the early trouble. The 50 partnership was brought up on the last ball of the 18th when Massiah drove medium pacer Dilan Fernando through the covers for Massiah’s sixth boundary and the third of three boundaries in the over for USA.

After surviving a missed run out chance on 41, Massiah brought up his 50 in 69 balls with a lofted drive straight down the ground off the left-arm spin of Damian Crowley in the 25th over. However, Massiah was unfortunately out three balls later for 51 when he played onto his stumps attempting to cut Crowley.

Image (right) - Sushil Nadkarni sets off for a run after punching one to the off side. Nadkarni top scored for USA with 73 vs. Italy. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Rashard Marshall arrived at the crease and with Nadkarni produced USA’s largest partnership of the match, 90 for the fourth wicket across 17.1 overs. Nadkarni brought up his 50 in 100 balls with a slog sweep over midwicket in the 37th over bowled by Carl Sandri and two overs later survived a point blank run out chance from five yards out when Munasinghe missed underhanding for the striker’s end stumps in his follow through. He was finally dismissed for 73 by Dilan Fernando after top edging a hook to third man to end the 42nd over with USA 178 for 4.

Allen arrived at the crease and wasted no time giving USA a late innings burst, getting off the mark on his second ball with a six over long on followed on the next delivery by a boundary swept over square leg off of Sandri. Marshall was out in the 45th to Munasinghe for 39, caught at extra cover mistiming a slower ball to make it 200 for 5. At the start of the 46th, Allen was put down on 15 after a straightforward chance at midwicket was grassed by Pennazza off Dilan Fernando.

Italy claimed Barrington Bartley for 1 just four balls later, but they would regret the missed chance off Allen as he punished them for another 36 runs in the final four overs. Munasinghe in particular felt the brunt of Allen with two sixes smashed off him in the 47th. Neil McGarrell was out on the first ball of the 48th to Dilan Fernando for 2, but Munasinghe’s figures took another beating in the 49th when Allen and Japen Patel each hit sixes off him in the frame.

Allen hit his fifth six off Dilan Fernando to begin the 50th over and a string of twos brought up his half-century with one ball remaining in the innings. Patel was run out on the final ball for 14 trying to stretch for another two for Allen and USA finished on 254 for 8, which turned out to be more than enough to defend. Dilan Fernando finished with 3 for 54 for Italy while Munasinghe finished with 2 for 52 despite bowling a testing six-over spell at the start in which he took 1 for 16.

Image (left) - Timroy Allen raises his bat after crossing 50 in the final over vs. Italy. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

For the second day in a row, Elmore Hutchinson made the early breakthroughs for USA with the new ball. The first to go for Italy was Damian Fernando, beaten for pace trying to pull the fast bowler and caught thanks to an outstanding diving catch from Muhammad Ghous running in from mid on for 11. Italy captain Alessandro Bonora came in next but didn’t last very long, caught behind by Taylor off Hutchinson for 6 to make it 38 for 2 after 8.

Peter Petricola joined opener Andy Northcote as Italy regained momentum with their two best batsmen at the crease. USA’s bowlers engineered multiple chances to dismiss them including a pair in the 18th off McGarrell when each batsmen was put down as Italy frustrated USA heading into the drinks break at 82 for 2. It took the intervention of Ghous to bring an end to their 57-run partnership when Petricola bottom edged a cut onto his stumps for 25 to make it 95 for 3 in the 23rd. Ghous struck again in his next over, darting in a fuller and flatter delivery to beat Northcote’s attempted paddle sweep and the opener walked off for 41 to make it 98 for 4.

“I think basically Ghous’ spell was the turning point for us in the game because he got the two key wickets,” Nadkarni said. “Ghous getting rid of both of them, it really opened the flood gates for us to come back into the game and win this game.”

Crowley and Sandri fought hard to keep Italy in the match with a 54-run stand, but as the run rate started to climb, Italy’s last recognized pair of batsmen started taking more risks which eventually led to their downfall. McGarrell returned for a second spell in the 38th and struck with his third ball, getting Crowley stumped for 37 after a premeditated charge down the track. Hutchinson removed Hayden Patrizi for 3, trapped in front by a perfectly placed yorker.

Dinidu Marage was the second batsman stumped for McGarrell for a third-ball duck in the 42nd over to make it 172 for 7 as Sandri rapidly began to run out of partners. Pennazza was run out five balls later without scoring when Marshall made an athletic diving stop at cover before throwing to Taylor over the stumps to finish the dismissal. Sandri was McGarrell’s third stumping victim for 41 at the start of the 46th over and the match wrapped up two balls later when Dilan Fernando drove McGarrell to Hutchinson at midwicket as Italy was bowled out for 180. McGarrell finished with USA’s best figures on the day taking 4 for 44 while Hutchinson claimed 3 for 44. Ghous’ pressure building spell resulted in 2 for 24.

In Monday’s other matches, Bermuda bounced back from a first-day defeat to beat Oman by 34 runs at St. David’s CC. Bermuda slumped to 117 for 7 but some very valuable lower order partnerships took them to 194 before they were bowled out in 44.1 overs. Treadwell Gibbons propped up Bermuda with 33 at number eight before being last man out. Oman experienced a similar slide falling to 106 for 8 before Hemal Mehta and Amir Ali added 42 for the ninth wicket to keep Omani hopes alive. Bermuda eventually dismissed them for 160 in 41.5 overs with Malachi Jones taking 3 for 29. Number eight Amir Ali finished unbeaten on 58 after taking 3 for 34 in the first innings.

Nepal’s shocking start to the tournament continued with a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Uganda, who sit at the top of the standings with USA at 2-0. On the same Somerset CC ground where they played USA, Nepal won the toss and batted first but wound up being bowled out for 116 in 44.2 overs. Roger Mukasa led Uganda’s swift chase with 49 not out as they reached the target in 27 overs.

After a day off on Tuesday, USA returns to action on Wednesday against Oman at Somerset CC. DreamCricket.com’s live coverage, sponsored by New Inning Foundation, begins at 10 a.m. local time, 9 a.m. on the east coast in the USA.

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

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

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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: Episode 4 - Guest Darren Beazley Part 2 on the US Cricket Podcast

openingbat — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:02:00 GMT

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

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

In part two of a two-part interview, USACA CEO Darren Beazley goes into his vision for grassroots development in the country especially in regards to youth and infrastructure development. He also talks about trying to establish a unique identity for cricket in the USA and discusses why he took the job of USACA chief executive in an organization historically plagued by poor administration.

The full episode can be accessed by clicking here. Part one of the interview isavailable here and both parts can also be downloaded for free on iTunes. The following is a quote from part two of the interview.

Image (right) - USACA CEO Darren Beazley (right) with USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed (middle) and USA team manager Shoaib Ahmed (left). [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Peter Della Penna: Some people, when you took the job, they thought you must be out of your mind. Why would you want to leave cushy Australia to come where there’s been so much strife and there’s almost like this scarlet letter attached to USACA? Why on earth did you take this job?

Darren Beazley: When I was first talking… I can read. I went online and I went ‘Whoa, this is a challenge’ and look it is. But why? Two reasons. From a personal point of view, I’ve talked about my family and here’s a chance for my wife to come home and for my children to celebrate their American heritage. That’s really important to me. From a career point of view, it’ll either make me or break me Peter. No, look I love challenges. Why would I be trying to develop football into South Africa? Why would I take on Olympic sailing in Australia. I mean Australians all know about sailing but they know about Australia II America’s Cup. When it comes to Olympic sailing it’s a different thing. I don’t know. I’ve just been through this period in my life the last 20 years or so where I want to give something back to the sport and I’m serious about that and sincere about it and I love a challenge. I can tell you that I think the potential for cricket in America is enormous and I know that the ICC feels the same way. So I think that it behooves everybody that’s listening to this tonight to serious think about putting down their guns for a minute, and their swords and whatever else they’re fighting with, their pots and pans, and actually think about this because I actually think this is a really unique point in time. I really do. I think we’ve got a little window of opportunity here to show that we actually can come together and we can actually show the rest of the cricketing world that we can play because we’ve got guys and girls that are big and strong. We have guys and girls that are smart. We’ve got athletic people. We’ve got a great environment and we’ve got lots of money. This country has got lots of money. I know they’ve been through the [Global Financial Crisis] but we’ll come back and we’ve got lots of smart people that know how to run sport better than any other country in the world, better than Australia, better than England, better than you name it. So why wouldn’t we actually try and have a go at trying to do this? It might be utopic and whatever, but every day I’ve got out of bed so far I’ve been really looking forward to coming to work because for every one person that tells me I can’t do it, there’s four people saying you know what we believe you can and that motivates me. In the same way as people threw brickbats at me and said that you’ll never get sailing on free-to-air television in Australia, you’ll never get a big sponsor, you’ll never play any role in Australia’s ability to pull down gold medals. Well, we did all those things and the Australian sailing team is the most successful team that Australia produced at London 2012. So I love a challenge. This is going to be probably the biggest challenge in my life and I’m going to give it my all and if at the end of my time Peter I’ve failed, I can tell you one thing mate. It won’t be because I didn’t try.

USA Cricket: Episode 3 - Guest Darren Beazley Part 1 of the US Cricket Podcast

openingbat — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:40:00 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)

In part one of a two-part interview, USACA CEO Darren Beazley discusses his background coming from Western Australia where he was an administrator in several different sports including cricket, sailing and Australian Rules Football prior to taking on the position as the USA Cricket Association’s chief executive in February. Among other topics, Beazley also talks about how he hopes to rectify the lack of domestic women’s cricket tournaments since the team came back from the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh as well as how he hopes to recruit the 32 disenfranchised leagues from the 2012 USACA election back into the USACA fold.

The full episode can be accessed by clicking here and is also available for free download on iTunes. The following is a brief selection of quotes from part one of the interview.

Image (right) - USACA CEO Darren Beazley speaking at the tournament banquet following the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 in Florida. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Peter Della Penna: One of the interesting things I found out about you is that way back when, you used to coach or teach lacrosse in Australia. Kind of similar in some ways to what you’re doing here, I can’t imagine lacrosse is a very popular sport in Australia. What was that experience like and what are some of the things you think you can take from that and some of the other jobs you’ve had - you’ve worked with development in the Australian Football League in South Africa, those kind of things. What are some of the things you learned from kind of developing a sport and teaching and spreading a sport where it’s not very popular in those territories that you think you can apply here?

Darren Beazley: My view when I was teaching – I used to be a phys ed teacher many moons ago and that’s where I taught the lacrosse – was that we have a responsibility to expose young people to all types of games. Now lacrosse was a game in Australia that not many of my students had ever played and the thing I liked about it, it was a really good leveling sport because all of a sudden they weren’t playing through the planes like a vertical plane with a cricket shot or a horizontal plane with a baseball shot because all of a sudden you’re catching and throwing from above the waist and there’s not many sports where you do that, particularly with an implement. So it was a great leveler to find out which were the good hand-eye, but also it’s a very fast running game so which were the good athletes who had the big tanks. I guess I took a lot of that knowledge into developing a niche sport in South Africa and I’m going to apply that knowledge here. What are the fundamentals? The fundamentals are that you need to make sure that the experience that you have is an excellent one because there’s too many reasons for young people who come and taste the sport to not play it. Football is very big here, baseball is very big here. So if they come down to cricket and they have a bad experience, the coach doesn’t make it fun or is too hard on the young person coming down, they’re not going to hang around. They’ll go whereas if you’re in an established sport like cricket is in Perth or in Australia, if the coach is a bit hard on you you’re more likely to keep coming back because it is the sport. I think that’s really important and our coaches need to understand no matter where they are in America, they’ve got a responsibility to give our kids a good experience the first time. The second thing in terms of high performance like my very brief involvement with the men’s national team, same thing. We’ve got to make sure that when they come into the national team that everything is done very professionally and very well so that they think they’re part of something very special because if you do it half-hearted, then they’ll go, ‘This sport’s not serious. This sport’s never going to make an impact on the landscape’ and therefore they’re going to go and choose something else. If I can take one lesson that I’ve learned from Major League Soccer, I think the work that they’ve done and I know it’s been a long time that they’ve been doing it, but from what I can see from the outside, they seem to have done a very very professionally run league and I think they’ve shown what can be done. I think cricket can learn a lot from Major League Soccer.

PDP: What do you see the state of cricket in this country at the moment? A lot of people like making the comparison to soccer and they say cricket is right now is where soccer was 30 years ago or 40 years ago and look where soccer is now. What do you see as the state of cricket and how far off cricket can be from becoming that status that soccer is enjoying now in this country?

DB: It’s the biggest challenge I think I face Peter because I’d like to first of all say to your listeners that the volunteers that have got US Cricket to the point that they have should be really proud of themselves. You think about 49 leagues, 1100 teams across the country, about 35,000 people playing the game, that’s a fantastic effort. But it’s all been done on the back of volunteers by and large. My sense is looking at this I don’t know how much further US Cricket could continue to grow on the basis of volunteerism and the reason for that is that our jobs are more and more demanding. Our appreciation of family time is becoming more apparent so people are less and less likely to give up huge amounts of times to go and try and keep things going… This is the big challenge I think for US Cricket to make that move from amateurism to professionalism. What that means is that there’s going to have to be a real delicate balance from my team at USACA to make sure that we completely respect the work that the volunteers have done to this point and to celebrate the great work that they’ve done and in the same time for the volunteers to understand that things have changed. They do need to let go and they do need to take a bit of advice from people who are doing this in a professional capacity. My sense is from the people I’ve met – and I haven’t been over to the west coast yet – but I’ve been in my seven or eight weeks I’ve been in the job, I’ve been around to a lot of places and I’ve met some really good people. I’m pretty confident that we can make a dent. Now further to your point, can we get as far as soccer has in that time? I’m not sure yet Peter. I haven’t seen enough of it to comment on that but I think we’ve got a good foundation.

PDP: A lot of womens players around the country are very frustrated at the lack of opportunities. USA qualified for the 2011 Women’s World Cup Qualifier. It was a big moment for development in US Cricket, in particular women’s development, and things have stalled since then. There was a great opportunity to sustain momentum and keep momentum going in the right direction but since the women have come back from Bangladesh, there has not been a single domestic tournament organized for them. There were some promises made in 2012 for a women’s tournament. Never happened. How do you get that momentum and that faith restored in the women’s program?

DB: I’ve spoken to two ladies, two women’s coordinators, one from New York and one from here in the South East Region. She’s based in Georgia. My first step is to actually get the women’s representatives from each of the eight regions. At the last USACA board meeting, all regional representatives were asked to put up the name of that person. We’ll speak in the next two weeks and I want to get a national view of this of what they’d like to see happen from that. We’ll then develop part of our overall strategy will be, a core pillar will be aimed at women’s cricket. We will devise some sort of a system for this year. I think it’s important. I don’t know how it looks Peter but I think it’s important. What you’re saying is right that our ladies get a chance to play together and have some sort of an opportunity this year because as I said if we’re going to undertake international duties in 2014, we need to start doing that now. I can’t say after eight weeks in the job exactly what that looks like, but I am firmly committed to making sure that there is some opportunity for the ladies to get together and play some sort of competitive cricket.

PDP: One of the things that has bothered a lot of stakeholders around the country is how that elections played out over the course of 2011 and 2012. Reintegration has been a buzzword in international cricket over the last year. Kevin Pietersen’s reintegration process, Ross Taylor’s reintegration process with New Zealand. What is the reintegration process for the 32 leagues that were disenfranchised and not allowed to vote in the last USACA election?

DB: I’m not really 100% sure about all the facts in that. Obviously I’ve spoken to a lot of stakeholders and they’ve certainly told me their view of it good and bad. What I’m here for, I’ve made a big commitment to come here. This is personally I guess for me terrific because my family is from the US but this is a really challenging job but I’m doing it for one reason because I was lucky enough to play cricket in Australia but also overseas and cricket’s been good to me. It’s my turn to put something back. So that’s my motivation. In terms of some of the things that have happened, what I’m hoping to do is I’ve now spoken to seven of the eight regions. Some people are pro-USACA and some are very vocally not pro-USACA but I’ve offered the olive branch. I’ve said I’m happy to talk to everybody. I’ve mapped out some of my ideas and some of my views and it’s resonated. We have got now some member leagues that have paid their dues, already become financial in the last few weeks that are saying, ‘You know what. I’m not happy with what necessarily happened last year but I’m prepared to be a big enough person to put it behind me and I’m gonna give this guy a go’ and I really appreciate that support. Peter, not everyone has done that and I respect that too. That’s fine. But you know what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing. I think that further to what I said previously that most people are not silly that are involved in cricket. They can see good administration when they see it. They recognize it. So my job over the next six to 12 months is to put in place a serious sustainable long-term cricket structure that will have people wanting to come back on board. To those that haven’t signed up again, I would ask you to reconsider. I would ask you please to give us a go, pay your USACA membership. There is a governance committee which is headed up by Shelton Glasgow. Once you’ve paid your USACA membership, they will come in contact with you and they will walk you through what needs to be done in order to address some of the issues. For those that say, ‘No. I don’t want to do that. I’m going to sit back for a year,’ I’ll respect that too. But you know what? I’ll work with anybody to do my very best for US Cricket. It’s not one that I’m going to be able to wave a magic wand Peter, as much as I’d like to, and pretend that some of the things in the past haven’t happened and I don’t want to make comment one way or the other. It’s not for me to do that. I can only look forward. I’m not trying to pretend that what happened in the past didn’t happen, but I can’t really change it and I don’t know enough about it so my sense is the best thing I can do is continue to try and make those offers and those that want to come with us will. Those that don’t? Well, they can make their own decision.

USA Cricket: Stuart MacGill visits DreamCricket Academy and CLNJ Youth Program

openingbat — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:25:00 GMT

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

By Venu Palaparthi

Stuart MacGill, the former leg-spin bowler of Australia, visited DreamCricket Academy in Hillsborough, NJ, on Saturday, April 13, 2013. MacGill was on a personal visit to New York and his visit to DreamCricket was facilitated by Jamie Harrison of USYCA. MacGill's visit coincided with DreamCricket's tenth anniversary as a USA cricket portal and fifth year as an academy.

MacGill, who took 208 wickets in 44 Tests, observed students and alumni of the Academy, many of whom are now part of the CLNJ Youth Program, and gave them lessons and tips.

Pic (Right): MacGill shows the kids how to grip the ball as USYCA's Jamie Harrison, Coach Earl Daley and Coach Damien Morgan look on.

The easy going cricketer was a huge hit with the kids, using anecdotes and funny stories to explain what it takes to become a good cricketer.

"[Cricket] is about angles, momentum and levers, I bet you didn’t know that. It is what they teach you in physics," MacGill told the kids. "Kicking, punching, tennis, all ball sports, they are all the same," he said, advising the bowlers to "throw your weight through the ball."

MacGill told the kids "Old, young, fast or slow, you can be any type of body, there is a job for you in cricket. I am not particularly fast, I am not particularly athletic. I would have loved to have been a fast bowler. I would have loved to have scared people. I couldn’t do that."

"What I could do," he said pausing for a second before continuing, "was get him out."

"My favorite thing in the whole world was to get the batsman out."

"Doesn’t matter what the batsman did, I would keep going and keep going. You will get them eventually. The thing that I did best was if they hit a six, it did not bother me. They will smack the ball past you. I would go back to my mark and ignore them. You never stare at the batsman or talk to them. You just go back to the mark and keep doing your job. Keep doing it and keep doing it. You are going to get them eventually."

"Then I would meet him in the dressing room and say, I am so lucky to get you out. I am clearly not good enough to get you out. I saw you walking out there and you were so cool. I couldn’t possibly get you out."

"And you can see the batsman going - 'Are you messing with me?" That's what I liked to do."

Emphasizing the importance of perseverance and understanding their roles, MacGill told the kids, "Don’t try to impress everyone. The cool kids in cricket are the one that will be done soonest."

After the net session was over, he assembled all the kids again and told them, "I am impressed with what I am seeing here today. There are some good skills here. You are very very lucky that the facilities here at DreamCricket, they are as good as the ones we have in Australia. I hope to see some of you playing for USA soon."

MacGill posed for pictures, signed autographs and asked everyone to visit The Cricket Club, his hangout on Google+ together with Aakash Chopra and Damien Martyn.

MacGill was presented with a memento by Kranthi Bayya of DreamCricket Academy. MacGill, who is known to be an avid reader browsed DreamCricket's collection of rare videos, books and memorabilia. MacGill then spoke about his Google Hangout - The Cricket Club's popularity in North America, and about his many interactions over the years with Americans who truly cared about cricket. "You might be surprised, but Michael Jackson played cricket," MacGill said remembering a conversation with Jermaine Jackson.

Upon his return to New York, he wrote a note to Jamie Harrison: "After having spent an afternoon in the nets with a bunch of enthusiastic young American cricketers I'm no longer surprised. When you consider this was just a snapshot of youth cricket in the New Jersey region, it was impressive to say the least.

"One of the aspects of the boys skills that struck me most was the fact that they all had their own individual style and technical flair. This might sound as though its a bad thing, but its quite the opposite. Australian coaches in the last 20 years have worked overtime trying to cloning our best players. Consequently we have robbed our young cricketers of the opportunity to become the best version of themselves possible."

"In just 3 hours, I saw at least half a dozen young players with the skills to compete for many years to come. We had a wide range of spin bowling talent, a great left arm seamer who improved with every ball he bowled and some real pace from an athletic right armer who if we're not careful will probably turn his hand to another sport. Its very exciting."

Pic (Right): Little Tyler gets his first lesson in Physics

MacGill was full of praise for USYCA and its goals: "As for the work that you've done with USYCA; I am absolutely stunned that you have managed to achieve so much in such a small period of time. In Australia cricket has the benefit of vast resources, TV exposure and almost exclusive use of sporting facilities in the summertime, yet we can't boast the enthusiasm and growth that you have in the US. Cricket is a game that provides opportunities for 'regular kids' to triumph over athletes and every single one of us loves to see a kid being given the chance to win because they deserve it.

"I'm convinced that you will have a formidable horde of hungry young cricket players desperate to take on the world before too long. The sooner the ICC realizes the strength of the game in North America rests with its youth and not a bunch of tired ex-pats, the sooner you can genuinely compete on the international stage," he wrote.

"I can't wait to talk with Cricket Australia about the development work USYCA is doing with schools and look forward to watching you take these kids to the next level."

The boys were grateful too. After the session, Parth Sampath who got some leg spin tips wrote, "Thank you DreamCricket for having Stuart MacGill today."

USA Cricket: Selection criteria were adhered to - Darren Beazley

openingbat — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:59:00 GMT

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

USACA CEO Darren Beazley responded to criticism surrounding the selection process in a phone and email interview with DreamCricket.com.

"USACA stands by the team that was selected," Beazley told DreamCricket.com. Beazley, who has been in the job for just over two months also said that the selection process under his administration would be thorough and professional. "I have plenty of experience in this sphere and I hope that US cricket can benefit from that experience."

In an opinion piece that appeared on this website and in an article on ESPNcricinfo, Peter Della Penna questioned the dropping of Usman Shuja, who is USA’s second highest wicket-taker, and Aditya Thyagarajan, who is USA’s third-highest run-getter in the 50-over format. Della Penna argued that the players should have been selected based on their record against some of the WCL Division III opponents such as Nepal and Italy; past performances in Bermuda; and their recent form.

"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," Della Penna wrote in his strongly worded criticism.

In his response, Beazley reaffirmed his faith in the process. “The selection of the US National Men's, Women's and Youth cricket teams is based on performance, future potential and suitability to the particular tournament or competitor format. This criterion includes whether it is a [2 day] game such as those played in the Auty Cup or a T20 fixture. It also includes the types of pitches that the team will play on the conditions that will prevail in that country or region.”

“Our focus is to develop a squad and give ourselves the best chance of going to New Zealand,” he said referring to the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup to be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand.

"I am satisfied that [the process] gave every player the change to press his case and for the group to begin to 'gel'," Beazley noted.

"The Board of USACA invested in 21 players being considered, including a US citizen based in Queensland. The selection process was as independent as possible. ICC America's High Performance Manager Mr. Andy Pick was co-opted to assist with the process. He sat in on several meetings due to his knowledge about the player group, his experience and pedigree in high performance management and selection and his independence. He did not have a vote in the final composition of the team, but certainly challenged some of the thinking and his thoughts were debated thoroughly. I myself brought a level of independence as I could only comment on what I saw, not knowing the players personally.

"My input was all about ensuring that the three criteria for selection were adhered to by the selection group. The input of the national coach was also an important element that has not been present previously I am told," Beazley wrote in an email.

Beazley said that he knew that the player group was starting to feel that they are building up to something special. "Self-belief is something that you nurture when you have your elite groups together," Beazley wrote.

Beazley emphasized that USACA has looked within and outside the country to find talent and the ‘practice series’ against Bermuda provided USACA with an opportunity to evaluate Josh Dascombe of Australia.

"This is the first of such experiments that USACA will undertake to ensure that talented US citizens that are playing elite cricket overseas can be considered for national duties in the years ahead. It is all part of the evolution of US cricket to follow world's best practices." Beazley said that the added depth would allow USACA to rotate players depending on suitability.

“Four other high profile candidates made contact with us and we will evaluate them,” Beazley told DreamCricket.com.

Responding to Della Penna's criticism that Dascombe did not suit up for USA in the first 50-over match 'for some bizarre reason', Beazley said, "Dascombe arrived at his hotel room at 1:00 [AM] on the morning of Tuesday March 26th. Responsible elite athlete management would not prescribe that after a few hours's sleep, he be put into a competitive situation." Dascombe had left Brisbane on March 24th and traveled for over 30 hours to be considered, Beazley said.

Noting that he had personally spoken to the entire group for twenty minutes on March 29th at the conclusion of the game reiterating that the squad of 21 players that played in the T20 tournament and the practice matches were leading contenders for national duties in the months ahead.

"I explained that should a player not [be] selected it did not mean that the US Selection and Coaching staff did not have faith in their ability or potential to provide great service to the National team in the future. I reiterated that they are men playing in an international sport and that hard decisions need to be made."

"The players were personally called by the Chairman of the selectors on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st of March. Each player had the reason for their inclusion or exclusion from the Squad explained to them. I understand that several who were not selected for the Bermuda tournament asked excellent and mature questions on what they needed to address in the next few months to improve their chances," Beazley wrote in an email.

Beazley said that players that were not selected should not view it as a death sentence. "There is a really big year in front of us with Auty Cup in Canada, Bermuda and Dubai coming up. The other guys will come into contention for the Auty Cup. So in two months time, they might play again,” he said.

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: Does ACF have a chance?

openingbat — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:01:00 GMT

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

By Venu Palaparthi

Ways to keep control perpetually.

I recently came across some interesting observations by Alastair Smith on CarnegieCouncil.org. It not only makes for spectacular reading, you might see in it a reflection of USA cricket.

"We're going to tell you that all organizations, whether they are democracies, dictatorships, corporations, sports federations—I love talking about sports federations by the way - they all operate on the same principles: that people are trying to get their way and they want to stay in power, the people at the top.”

“Rule number one…is be beholden to as small a number of people as possible." Elections, he says, are "wonderful inventions for corrupt leaders. People keep thinking of elections as legitimacy - 'Let's have an election because the government will be legitimate.' It's not legitimate if what actually happens is - we know what the result is before the election."

Speaking about the purpose of such leaders, he says: “This is the whole purpose: you make people worse off except those people you choose not to make worse off. That makes them very loyal to you." His advice to such leaders: "never be nice to the people at the expense of those who matter.”

Smith then illustrates his rules with the example of FIFA. He says just 12 votes are needed to determine who's going to be the soccer organization’s president and where the location of the World Cup games will be held. "So, surprisingly enough you've got a budget of $4 billion and you need 12 votes."

If similarities to American cricket are not immediately obvious, then you should read Part 1 and Part 2 of my series.

Regardless of your affiliation, it is a fact that the American cricket community is at a fork in the road. USACA has shown us a ‘selectoral’ path, where somewhat coincidentally, 12 votes have decided the destiny of thousands of fans and players. And if you didn't miss the irony, ACF’s mission of expanding democracy by greatly broadening the spectrum of participation has also resonated with exactly 12 leagues.

Will ACF succeed? A look at the math.

It is safe to assume that a majority of the twelve ACF signatory leagues will become members of the ACF once the organization begins accepting members.

There are another 20 USACA member leagues that were disenfranchised - these are leagues that USACA has said are no longer in good standing. These leagues have not yet expressed solidarity with ACF. And there are an estimated 40 soft ball and hard ball leagues that have never been part of USACA.

These 60 leagues, and/or their constituent clubs and players are going to determine whether ACF will continue to gain traction. The soft ball leagues are both fertile territory and a solid hedge for the ACF. There have been no attempts to date to integrate these soft ball cricket leagues under a national federation. Of course, ACF's success also depends on its acceptance by individual fans and supporters.

One thing is clear, USACA can no longer take ACF lightly. There is a fair amount of curiosity surrounding ACF and many cricket organizations are considering ACF's membership invitation. I have personally received over a dozen calls regarding ACF and USACA in the past two weeks. The questions are on expected lines. Can ACF actually provide any services? Can the people that are steering ACF be trusted? Will ICC's continued recognition of USACA affect ACF's chances of success? How is ACF different from the organizations that have previously attempted to take on USACA? What if USACA builds trust, revamps its constitution and extends an olive branch?

What if USACA discovers God, cleans up governance?

In 2007, USACA revised the constitution, which was approved by only 97 of the 677 clubs then in existence (only 180 clubs voted). There were a lot of demands to make further improvements, but an ICC imposed deadline was looming. Despite the 14% mandate, USACA still obtained ICC approval and was reinstated as an Associate member. As Deb Das wrote on CricInfo: “Beyond steps to curb the most flagrant abuses of power, the new [USACA] constitution offers little safeguards against usurpation of authority and the maintenance of conspiratorial secrecy.”

This is the constitution under which USACA has operated since 2007. There has been much talk of revising and improving the constitution for years now but very little action. ACF on the other hand has published its draft constitution which, as I have written in my first and second parts, satisfactorily addresses many of the deficiencies contained in USACA’s constitution.

As someone who has observed USACA for some time, I can almost predict the next act in this drama.

USACA will respond to ACF’s onward march by convening a committee or hiring an outside consultant to review its constitution. Without a doubt, a report will be produced and the board will announce that it will consider the report’s recommendations at the next board meeting, in 100 days or never. In this manner, USACA will assuage the anger of the few who care in the near term and perhaps placate the ICC as well. It will also take some of the shine off ACF’s efforts.

However, it is an inescapable fact that ACF has the advantage on the constitution and USACA has a lot of catching up to do. It is also a fact that for USACA, the trust deficit extends beyond the constitution. There is no doubt in my mind that while USACA plays defense, ACF will continue to make inroads.

USACA naysayers will find in ACF a compelling alternative. ACF will also find traction in areas and among leagues where USACA is an unknown entity.

Shouldn't this conversation really be about execution?

Alright, let's talk about execution under Gladstone Dainty's stewardship since 2003. At the December 2012 AGM, the attendees were given a document dated September 9, 2008, titled "A Vision for USACA." Mr. Dainty told those assembled that the document remained as valid in 2012 as it did in 2008. Now, Mr. Dainty is not known to indulge in theatrics. This was viewed as a tacit admission that there hasn't been much progress.

Push the dial back some more, this time to 2005. That year, under Dainty's leadership, USACA published a document titled “Strategic Development Plan for 2006-2007”. In that plan, USACA said that it would have a Junior and Youth Development Program for U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 and that it would also have an U-23 A squad. It also contemplated a series of national competitions for leagues, clubs and regions. Among the more notable objectives were - "improving information and communications" and "restoring USACA's image." We all know how that went.

Now, push the dial back a bit further to 2002 when USACA first published a five-year plan for the 2002-2006 period. In that plan, USACA wrote that it planned to "attain ODI status by 2006 and thereby qualify automatically for 2007 World Cup." Similar ambitions were expressed in a variety of areas: "Increase participation of players from its current 10,000 to 50,000 in a five-year period, certify 2000 umpires, 2000 coaches, [and] at least 150 advanced certified coaches." "Cricket Administration in The United States of America shall adopt state of the art technology to attain optimum results from the implementation of its strategic plan for the period until 2006." Don't even ask for an appraisal of that plan.

Were there no bright spots at all since 2002 for USACA, you ask? Yes, there were a few.

USACA Treasurer John Thickett and former CEO Don Lockerbie steered the organization in the direction of a commercial deal, which by 2010 seemed imminent. Its progress since then has been slow, but it would be unwise to write it off just yet.

Thickett also made sure that tax filings and other financial data were published on the USACA website. In another positive step, some four years after USACUA proposed to form a representative and inclusive umpires federation, the USACA president finally acknowledged that USACUA needed to be supported. Thanks to New Zealand Cricket's help, USACA also made Lockerbie's 'Destination USA' goal a reality. Both the Pearls Cup in 2010 and the two T20s between New Zealand and the West Indies in 2012 were steps in the right direction.

But if you look at the 10 years since the 2002 plan, USACA has been singularly unimpressive. It has not succeeded in shaking off its inability to build sustainable development programs and processes, has not communicated effectively, did not build alliances among the sport's many fans and followers, has not partnered with other organizations that are doing yeoman's work in promoting cricket, and has failed to align its own board members in one direction. It has placed all its eggs in one basket - everything would be alright once the commercial arrangement fell in place.

It did not help at all that this period was punctuated by lawsuits, intrigue, resignations, long periods without tournaments, suspensions and expulsions. The membership, which was never taken into confidence, gradually became alienated, especially after the 2011-12 election drama.

And yet, USACA faces no serious threat to its existence even though its current membership has whittled to a handful of leagues. Instead of mounting an Arab Spring, the dissidents have sought refuge elsewhere.

Strange as it may sound, the other thing that USACA has going for it is... things cannot get any worse! From ICC suspensions to teetering on the brink of financial doom, USACA has seen it all during the last decade. In fact, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic about USACA's fortunes in the near term. First, USACA just hired a new CEO, Darren Beazley. His resume is impressive and he will likely remedy at least some of the issues. Also, if CHALLC begins writing checks, the organization will certainly be in a better position to effect changes.

Unlike USACA, which has generally promised the world and delivered an atlas, ACF has announced very few initiatives and generally delivered. ACF’s website and social media presence may not win it Webby awards, but the organization has outperformed USACA, whose online snafus are by now part of cricket folklore. On the tournament front, the ACF T20 was much appreciated. The organization's Orlando meeting was definitely more open than anything that USACA has delivered to date.

For ACF, the key near-term challenge is to scale up its plans, set new milestones and continue to exceed expectations.

ACF is in a honeymoon period. In order to maintain its momentum, it needs to conduct U-15, U-19 and women's tournaments in addition to the T20 tournament, it needs to have open townhall style meetings in addition to the annual meeting and it needs to launch programs and services for all its members. It must also attempt to create a soft ball cricket tournament and find a way to integrate that sub-community into the national framework. Everything that ACF does must be measurable and reports must be provided to the constituents.

ACF is unburdened by the past and has more energy and passion to prove that it can succeed. Its success will be measured by its ability to set itself meaningful goals and actually achieve them.

[In tomorrow's Part 4: Does ICC care? And why competition is not such a bad thing for cricket?]

[Disclaimer: The author is a co-founder of DreamCricket Academy, which is a former associate member of USACA (now a USACA member-in-waiting for over six months); a former representative of CLNJ on USACA's Atlantic Region board (CLNJ, which is NJ's largest league, was disqualified by USACA in 2012); and an administrator of CLNJ-Youth, the largest youth cricket program in the state of New Jersey. He also served as CLNJ's delegate to the ACF when ACF was not yet incorporated. However, the opinions expressed and the inputs on ACF constitution are his own and should not be viewed as CLNJ's or DreamCricket Academy's inputs.]

Impress the Americans, not the world

openingbat — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:55:00 GMT

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

By Tom Melville

With the announced postponement of the long-in-the-works USA T20 league doubts again arise over the perennial claims of the “great market potential” for cricket in North America.

With three years having passed without a ball yet being bowled these doubts are certainly justified and, collectively, they point, with each passing month of inactivity, to the conclusion that CHALLC has squarely run into the (to date) impenetrable wall that has derailed every other effort, in every form or fashion, whether it’s Kiwk Cricket for kids or multi-million dollar cricket leagues, from its self-proclaimed objective of bringing cricket to the American public: namely, coming to terms with the brutal reality that they are not operating in a cricket playing culture.

And despite its reassuring intent to “get things right” with its operations, CHALLC, even at this preliminary stage, has given plenty of evidence it has not done this.

Investors have been promised “top class players”, “ICC support”, and “international standard turf pitches”, all to be packaged as a fully “world class event” second to none in the cricket world.

And, at least on the drawing board, all this may play well with the most discriminating cricket fans from Mumbai to Sydney, and meet the highest ICC standards and expectations. But it doesn’t promise investors the only thing they really need to know; will any of this ever “play in Peoria.”

Not for one moment should it ever be underestimated that one, and only one, thing matters for any cricket venture with pretensions of profitability in America: can a revenue stream be generated for cricket from the mainstream American public, and this means building a business plan firmly on the tastes and customs of America’s own bat & ball culture, not the standards of the wider cricket world. But, to date, CHALLC only seems to be able to dangle before investors little more than reruns of the Lauderhill matches that never resonated with the American public, and, in all probability, matches that will be played without the international caliber players or ICC approved grounds of Lauderhill.

One has to simply wonder: what does CHALLC really have to sell? Anyone buying into a T20 franchise in a cricket playing culture knows they’re guaranteed fans will be in the stands of first class cricket facilities, in front of their TVs, etc. With its home grown T20 competition CHALLC can’t guarantee its investors much more than the “good old college try” since the hoards of anticipated American cricket fans exist, right now, only in imagination (unless CHALLC views as its “core constituency”--in the words of Gary Hopkins--the North American ex-pat community, in which case it would have to scale back its revenue projections from millions to thousands of dollars).

Personally, I believe the whole IPL “business model”—a full blown, multi-team, competition concentrated over a very short time span—is the wrong one for promoting cricket to Americans. Much preferable, and certainly more time tested, would be the course followed by the NFL in Europe; single, highly-focused, carefully planned, games with their public response scrupulously evaluated and monitored before moving forward in careful, incremental, steps. The NFL didn’t take the plunge of setting up a full-blown European league until it showed it could sell out Wembley Stadium. CHALLC is basically turning all this on its head, jumping headlong into a full-fledged league before it has shown it can sell a single ticket to Americans.

Looking at it this way, CHALLC, at its present stage of operation, is hardly more than a crapshoot, with potential investors being asked to pony up millions for franchises and grounds backed solely by the unverified collateral that organizers somehow, someway, have the wherewithal to sell cricket to the American public in a big, big, way.

(Tom Melville is an American cricket player, teacher, and author of Cricket For Americans and The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America. He’s been working with Americans at cricket for over thirty years. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.)

USA Cricket: ACF constitution takes cricket into newer territories - Part II

openingbat — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:29:00 GMT

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

By Venu Palaparthi

In Part One of this series on ACF's draft constitution, I analyzed whether the ACF constitution would have been more effective in the context of the many issues we have experienced since 2011. My conclusion was that it had adequate safeguards and was generally well thought out.

An organization surely cannot exist to right the wrongs of another. I am going to quote verbatim from Mike Thomas' article from June 11, 2012, titled "Suggestions for those that would rule, reform or replace," a brilliant piece that influenced ACF during its early days. I know first-hand because I participated in some of those early discussions as a representative of the Cricket League of New Jersey, let there be no mystery to that. My league had been disqualified and our appeal was turned down. It was not the best of times.

That is when Mike's piece appeared on DreamCricket. "Frustration, disgust and a sense of helplessness are powerful disincentives to commitment," he wrote in his piece. "Get the Constitution right to start with, preferably both decentralized and with strong independent oversight of the Executive." Then, Mike wrote, "win the hearts and minds of all cricket constituencies – by effort, achievement and providing service."

But how successful was ACF in making that its own vision? This is precisely what I want to explore today in Part Two.

Importance of winning hearts and minds

Let me first illustrate the importance of winning the hearts and minds with the story of a town nearer home called Edison, N.J. Now, Edison is known to have 'America’s liveliest Little India' according to The New York Times.

Several Edison schools have cricket grounds. The town has 400 Indian businesses and Indians make up roughly 25 percent of the population. The Oak Tree Road area wore a festive look during the 2011 ICC World Cup. Not one, but two radio stations broadcast cricket talk shows into this town. TV Asia, the only cable broadcaster of domestic cricket, is based here. Edison is also the home of the Edison Cricket Club - a club which is visited by cricketing legends and dignitaries each year. Its members include U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone and N.J. Deputy Speaker Upendra Chivukula.

I am certain Edison contributes a sum north of $1 million to the cricketing eco-system. The town easily accounts for a few thousand Willow or Neo subscribers, and per capita, residents play or watch more cricket than any other town in the country.

Yes, Cricket is part of Edison’s DNA. In my estimate, just this one town could provide enough funds to match USA cricket's 2011 development spend.

But Edison, whose cricketing interest has been the subject of articles in magazines ranging from SPAN to ESPN, might as well be on another planet when it comes to USACA. USACA neither offers individual memberships nor grants voting privileges to clubs, so the town’s large base of cricket fans does not count at all.

Pic (Right): U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone is welcome at Edison Cricket Club. But he may not become a member of USACA, even if he wanted to.

Edison is not alone. In towns across the USA, there are hundreds of thousands of cricket fans and followers, hundreds of teams and clubs, and dozens of leagues which could contribute to the game’s growth.

I am not suggesting at all that USA cricket be limited to immigrants. I am asking that USA cricket places reliance on their love and devotion for the game as a solid foundation on which to build cricket. Other sports including soccer have done it, why not cricket?

For that to happen, the national governing body must be willing to create a large community of players, administrators, fans and followers. Is ACF willing to go the extra mile and does its constitution permit that?

The answer is a resounding Yes!

Everyone is welcome

Article 3 ("Membership") of ACF's constitution is an open embrace - "Membership in the Federation shall be open to: (a) Any youth player, adult player, coach, trainer, manager, administrator, official, fan or other individual active or interested in the sport of cricket. (b) Any affiliated sports organization or amateur sports organization."

This is similar to other world class sports organizations. Here is an excerpt from the Membership section of the bylaws for USA Baseball: “Any individual or sports organization active in baseball, or any individual or sports organization interested in the advancement of baseball in the United States and throughout the world.” USA Baseball specifically states that Board approval is not necessary for this class of members.

In comparison, membership in the USACA constitution’s membership section is somewhat exclusive - "Membership in USACA is open to all organized cricket leagues, clubs, colleges and universities, with a verifiable membership base of at least fifteen members."

A by-product of this exclusivity is that USACA has fewer members.

Also, when you have an organization that is accountable only to a dozen members, you don’t have to worry about discussion or debate. Organizations that have fewer members can quell what little disagreement they encounter through patronage or handouts to a carefully selected few. On the other hand, openness brings with it transparency and broader participation makes for a more effective democracy.

And a vote for all

While continuing to provide a strong voice to the leagues (7 votes on the Board and 3 on the Advisory and Judicial Committee), ACF balances that by providing a direct voice to clubs and individuals (3 votes on the Board and 8 votes on the Advisory and Judicial Committee). Add to that the presence of an independent director, and ACF ends up with each constituency getting a voice while also ensuring that nobody has absolute power.

Combined with better member communications, this could also serve to energize individuals and clubs, especially those that want a more active role.

Softball leagues

Another area where ACF blazes a fresh trail is that it recognizes softball, tapeball or heavy tennis ball cricket as a bona fide form of cricket. Most youth cricketers start with a softball or heavy tennis ball before they graduate to the leather ball. A foam filled ball is the best way to introduce a newbie to the game.

Softball cricket accounts for a large portion of the cricket played in this country. Softball leagues and hardball leagues have synergistic relations in cities across USA - grounds are often shared and players cross over from one format to the other. At the purely recreational end of the spectrum, community and charitable organizations frequently organize cricket camps or tournaments where the heavy tennis ball is used. This format is thought to be more inviting and user-friendly.

By welcoming softball, tapeball or heavy tennis ball leagues and ensuring representation for them, the Federation allows itself a larger base on which to draw.

However, the softball phenomenon will need to be carefully managed. Firstly, softball leagues are likely to be intolerant of unfair treatment. So the provision of one representative for softball format on the Board and one representative on the Judicial Committee may need to be reviewed once the floodgates open and ACF's membership drive yields a sizable number of softball leagues.

On the other hand, the inevitable clamour for representation by softball leagues must necessarily be seen alongside the undisputable fact that hardball cricket is still the highest form of the game. These are still early days and perhaps a middle path will emerge that harmonizes the two formats as the organization evolves.

Lastly, ACF must plan tournaments and member benefits that meet the expectations of this constituency.

Lower fees, greater incentives

That brings us to membership fees and incentives. ACF has indicated that it would charge membership dues of $10 for individuals, $50 for clubs, $300 for softball leagues and $500 for hardball leagues. USA Rugby draws a portion of its revenue by charging between $5 and $65 for individual members and $150 per club, and I have always felt that USA Cricket needed to get off the high horse.

Pic (right): US Lacrosse offers a range of benefits, some of its own and some through its sponsors and partners.

Three years ago at USACA’s Dallas AGM, when USACA pondered individual membership for $25, I thought it was a stroke of genius and gave the proposal a lot of play in my coverage of the AGM. As with other USACA initiatives, that proposal went nowhere fast. The ACF's $10 individual membership rate is brilliant. I must applaud ACF for reducing the gap between intent and execution.

ACF constitution not only treats individual members as a crowd-funding opportunity, it grants them votes and has already stated that it will provide them with member incentives.

Also, the ACF is accepting club members at $50 and giving them a vote. This is also a key differentiator. Finally, ACF's league membership rate of $500 is much lower than what a league currently pays USACA. Of course, affordability should not be confused with acceptability. Ultimately, ACF's success will depend on the services it provides.

From what I have seen, ACF is also eager to embrace technology as a differentiator. ACF has already launched an online payment mechanism for membership. Also noteworthy is that, when the organization launched its draft constitution, it sought feedback by making an electronic feedback form available on its website besides encouraging feedback via Facebook.

I recommend that ACF also consider accepting donations, just as USA Rugby does, once it gets its 501(c)3 status.

Introducing cricket to Americans

The most laudable guiding principles are in Article 2 of the ACF constitution titled "Purpose."

This section serves as a compass for the organization's long journey. Yes, ACF wants to be a national governing body and promote the sport and all that jazz. But among the 19 sections that comprise the organization's purpose, the one thing that jumps out is this line:

"Promote and support the introduction of the sport of cricket to individuals and communities who are not familiar with or traditionally associated with the sport of cricket in order to promote and enhance the overall diversity of individuals engaged in the sport of cricket."

Not enough has been done by the national governing body to spread cricket beyond its core base of first and second generation immigrants. That ACF has embedded this as its purpose and is willing to be measured on this goal is commendable.

The entire arc of a cricketer's lifespan

Equally impressive is the fact that ACF provides a membership option for everyone regardless of age or gender. As Stephen Rooke so perfectly put it at the Orlando meeting: “Our goal is to accommodate a wide array of American cricketing interests and the entire arc of a cricketer’s lifespan as it progresses from youth cricket to adult cricket to senior cricket.” Categorization in this manner allows the Federation to adjust incentives for different levels and, through the use of data mining, ACF could also make informed decisions when promoting the sport.

The best way to get a member for life is start them young. This is a huge deal. My 8 year old has a membership card from the American Taekwondo Association. He is as proud of that as he is of his belt and something tells me he will be an ATA member for life. Sooner or later, he is going to wonder why cricket hadn't given him something he can can be proud of.

People with Disabilities

In August of 2009, DreamCricket Academy got a call from N.J. School for the Deaf to conduct a cricket camp for the kids there. What followed was simply magical. The NJSD kids enjoyed the demo and the game. It was also a great opportunity for the young cricketers from DreamCricket Academy.

While this was initiated by the NJSD, most world class sports governing bodies actively reach out to the impaired. According to the ECB's special web page for disabled cricket, "ECB's vision is to become and remain the world’s leading governing body in providing access to the sport of cricket for people with disabilities."

In the US, USA Baseball has this as part of its purpose: “To encourage and support baseball programs for individuals with disabilities and the participation of such individuals in baseball activity, including, where feasible, the expansion of opportunities for meaningful participation by individuals with disabilities in programs of baseball competition for able-bodied individuals.”

ACF does not shy away from its social responsibility and specifically mentions people with disabilities in its charter. “Cricket shall also include any variation of the sport that deviates from the rules set by the International Cricket Council in order to accommodate mental or physical disabilities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Officers and Directors

Another area where ACF’s constitution must be commended is the line it draws between employees and elected representatives.

Since it is topical, I should quote from Article 1 of the US constitution: "No Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his Continuance in Office." The founding fathers included this restriction to create legislative-executive checks and balances.

ACF envisages a similar delineation. Section 6.4 of ACF constitution says: “The CEO and all other employees owe to the Federation the duties of good faith and loyalty. Consistent with this, no person may serve simultaneously as an officer of the Federation and as a member of the Board or the Committee.”

ACF stipulates that the CFO, the Chief of Sporting Operations and the Secretary should be supervised by the CEO and contemplates that all officers who are responsible for day-to-day operations must be compensated in order to be effective and that they must be accountable to the board.

As we all know, USACA’s constitution specifically requires direct elections for the roles of Treasurer and Secretary. When you have just 15 vote-eligible leagues and several candidates in the mix, the winner is sometimes determined by political math. Also, popularity should not be confused with capability. USACA’s recent history is proof that popularity and capability do not always go hand in hand.

Zonal structure

One area where ACF’s constitution is surprisingly low on details is the zonal structure. At the ACF Face to Face meeting in Orlando, which I attended as CLNJ’s delegate, there was talk of creating an organization that respects zonal autonomy. League representatives also felt that the present USACA regional structure was imperfect.

Regardless, since the constitution mentions six zonal directors representing three zones, it is important for prospective members to understand the zonal composition and how they will be represented at the national level and within their zone. From a more practical standpoint, ACF will want to await the outcome of its membership drive before it announces the zones or it may end up with unequal zones in terms of size of membership. But not spelling out its current thinking regarding zones makes for poor optics, something ACF should alleviate through a concept document or via the FAQs.

USA Cricket: ACF provides answers to recent issues and impasses - Part 1

openingbat — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:38:00 GMT

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

By Venu Palaparthi

On January 20, the American Cricket Federation (ACF) published a draft constitution and invited comments from the various constituents. With this, ACF took the first step into creating a role for itself. In AGMs and among Executive Committees across the country, discussions have begun on the draft constitution.

The initial reactions from most stakeholders are somewhat existential and logical. Does USA really need another cricket organization? What are the prospects of this organization? A range of questions fall out of this, such as, what will the ICC do, what impact will it have on players, and so on.

For those who have followed USA cricket over the last decade and have seen several attempts to change the system fail, the response is a somewhat cynical shrug. Depending on the level of cynicism and political awareness, their questions range from “ACF is USACA in sheep's clothing?" to "Aren't these the same people who ran the game at USACA?” For the folks who have studied USACA's history, the questions are “How can we be sure that ACF won’t meet with the same fate as the Council of League Presidents and Major League Cricket?” And for the eternal optimists, there is also, "with New Zealand Cricket and Cricket Holdings America involved, USACA will change from within."

"Mere Paas Maa Hai"

I also spoke to a couple of stakeholders who are more closely aligned with USACA. Naturally, their reaction is based on political calculus: “I expect the ACF leagues to abandon the mother ship at the sight of the first USACA carrot.” The underlying assumption, and not entirely without basis, is that at least some of the dissident leagues are driven by short term goals. They also draw strength from the fact that a large percentage of participants of many leagues are unconcerned about anything beyond the weekend game. Long range planning and strategic thinking take a backseat as a result.

USACA's confidence also arises from the fact that the ICC and CHA continue to shower unconditional love on it. A friend and I were joking that it was like the legendary "Mere Paas Maa Hai" dialogue from the movie "Deewar." The joke goes like this:

ACF to USACA: "Mere paas cricketers ka trust hain, leagues ka support hain, turf wickets hain, achcha constitution hain, tournaments hain. Tere paas kya hain." [I have the trust of the cricket community, support of the leagues, turf wickets, a great constitution and tournament schedule. What do you have?]

USACA replies "Mere paas ICC ka mamta hai!" [I have ICC's love.]

A good start for a guiding document

In part one of this series, I will explore whether ACF's constitution provides the right starting point. In part two, I will attempt to analyze areas of the ACF constitution that are completely new territory and in part three, I will dwell on the philosophical aspect of whether ACF has a chance at all.

In order for the ACF to win the support of the cricket community, it must first be reviewed through the prism of recent impasses and issues that USA cricket has faced. Incidents from 2011 and 2012 have left deep wounds and if ACF cannot address these issues meaningfully, it won't get the traction it seeks.

The issues are well documented - the controversial handling of the last election, the heartless disqualification of two-thirds of USA’s leagues from voting, the organization’s insistence on recognizing a national board member as the vote-carrying representative of a league despite the league’s public disavowal of the said person, and the manner in which appeals and complaints were dealt with before, during and after the election.

ACF must convince cricketers that it has the answers on matters of election timelines, voting eligibility and dispute resolution. That is the first litmus test for ACF.

Election Timeline: Let’s take the issue of a timeline for elections, an area where history has repeated itself with amazing irregularity, if you will forgive the pun. USACA is no stranger to elections controversies - elections were delayed in 2002 (eventually held in 2003), in 2007 (eventually held in 2008) and in 2011 (eventually held in 2012).

ACF does not leave any room for maneuvering on the topic of elections. By stating that the terms of directors begin on January 1 of the year following an election and that elections shall be held before the first Saturday of December, the ACF constitution eliminates the election cycle vagueness that has enveloped USA elections. It also prevents any meddlesome interference in the conduct of elections - the kind witnessed in 2011.

In fact, the ACF goes one step further and enhances accountability for the conduct of elections. Section 7.10 stipulates that each director pay ACF an non-compliance penalty of $50 per day when a deadline is missed. In my estimate, USACA would be richer by a six-figure amount if it had such a provision. [If such a penalty was also imposed for missed tournaments, USACA would probably have a high seven-figure bank balance.]

Voting Eligibility: On suspensions of rights including voting privileges, the ACF constitution states that a member shall be suspended if they fail to submit membership dues as required for membership or for not meeting the terms of any agreement with the ACF.

While I agree that non-payment of dues before a record date should be the basis, there are two sides to that coin. We have also seen how holding off indefinitely on processing membership applications has impacted leagues desiring to become members. We have also seen issues like lost mail, delayed deposits or late payments leading to confusion surrounding voting eligibility.

We have also seen how the national body can lose the plot entirely when exercising its powers. As an example, my own league (CLNJ) paid $4300 for 43 clubs during 2010. But USACA's compliance consultant contended that the league should have paid for 44 clubs since it had identified 44 clubs on its website. Our explanation that the 44th club was inactive throughout the season fell on deaf ears ("In 2010 , one of the teams dropped out at the start of the season and hence dues were paid for 43 teams," our league pleaded). In 2011, we added a team and paid for 44 clubs. In any event, CLNJ was disqualified and among the reasons given was non-payment of dues. We paid $4300 for 2010 and $4400 in 2011. Another $100 was not going to break the bank, but our genuine reasoning was not accepted.

The ACF constitution attempts to solve these types of issues by making several provisions. First, the ACF constitution vests voting privileges in the hands of a broad membership, which includes players, clubs and leagues. In this manner, voting is not an exclusive privilege of leagues. And disqualifying leagues or pronouncing bogus leagues as vote-eligible does not affect electoral outcomes as it has with the national board.

Secondly, suspension of a member cannot be arbitrary. Under 3.9(b), the process of suspending a member must be conducted according to the Dispute Resolution Process.

Thirdly, the ACF constitution lays out a clear timeline for elections. The election deadline, election process and the appeals process, each have built-in notification periods and provide reasonable times for suspended members to take steps to restore their privileges.

In my view, a few additional provisions could further enhance the organization's reputation and allay fears of potential members. As an example, ACF could make reasonable attempts to notify a member approaching their membership anniversary date that the membership would be suspended unless payment is received by a certain deadline. If the fees are not received after a second reminder or after the anniversary date, suspension should be triggered. Suspension for non-payment should be lifted if payment is received (together with a penalty) within 30 days of the anniversary date. If not, membership should be cancelled.

Also, new members accepted within eight weeks of an election should not be allowed to vote. That will prevent gaming of the voting process by candidates. The ACF constitution already requires that eligibility lists be produced no later than eight weeks before an election and appeals by ineligible voters must occur no later than 6 weeks before the election. These eligibility related appeals must be heard in an expedited manner because the 45-day window under the Judicial Proceedings section may place the member at risk of being pronounced denied a vote just a tad later than needed if his appeal is upheld.

In summary, on the subject of voting eligibility, the ACF constitution gets a passing grade but should include some additional safeguards either within the constitution or through membership agreements. It should also take a more service-oriented approach by sending out reminders.

Term Limits: Term limits are not exactly a novel concept but not all organizations embrace limits with equal enthusiasm. After all, it wasn't until the 22nd amendment was ratified in 1951 that a two-term limit was placed for election to the office of the US president. Generally speaking, an organization's embrace of term limits reflects the importance the organization places on fresh ideas.

The ACF constitution stipulates a two term-limit for members of the Advisory and Judicial Committee. This is adequate.

For the Directors, it sets a 8-year cap since a length of a term may vary from one year to four years. This is a great start. In order to fully capture the spirit of term-limits, ACF should consider limiting candidates from contesting in an election if winning the election would lead to three successive terms or 8 years. In fact, ACF should consider going one step further. The maximum length of time a person should be allowed to serve in any capacity at the national level should be 8 years in any 16-year period.

USACA has no limits whatsoever - 2013 marks Gladstone Dainty's 10th year as President.

Judicial process: This area is well thought out and ACF's adoption of checks and balances through the proposed Advisory and Judicial Committee is remarkable. This committee is a good mix of representatives with no one category of members being disproportionately represented.

The judicial process is described in detail and sets timelines for submission, response, rebuttal response, and the meeting of the judicial committee. The only recommendation I can think of in this area is to set a similar timeline when additional questions or clarifications arise and when reconsideration is sought.

Duty to Recuse: ACF's draft constitution also clearly spells out the duty to recuse, something that USACA's constitution does not when it comes to the Appeal Committee. In fact, USACA's constitution empowers the Board to establish an Appeal Committee whose job is to consider appeals to final decisions by the Board. In and of itself, that presents a conflict. Without the expectation of recusal, it is up to the board to ensure that the committee that they appoint is impartial.

Proof is in the pudding, because when the board's decision to disqualify several leagues was appealed, USACA's Appeal Committee consisted of several league presidents, some of whom had a direct interest in the eventual outcome of the appeals in question.

Membership: Article 3 titled "Membership" in the ACF constitution is by far the most elegant and simple. Section 3.2 clearly defines the eligibility requirements for the various classes of members. Section 3.5 lays out when membership takes effect: "Any person, natural or juridical, satisfying the eligibility requirements of any of the classes of membership defined in this article shall be immediately considered a member of the Federation."

In comparison, the USACA constitution has sowed distrust as the membership process is viewed as a tool for the board to pick and choose its members. Section 12 of Article III of the USACA constitution says that Membership "Applications shall be approved by a majority vote of the Board." Elsewhere, the constitution says that a member is not entitled to vote "until the Board is satisfied that the member has met the definition of good standing." These two sections give the incumbent USACA board members control over when membership is granted and when a member may vote.

You will also notice that there is nothing in the USACA constitution that requires the board to review an application for membership within a finite amount of time. Over the last several years, I received numerous emails from league administrators awaiting the fate of their membership applications. Even this website's affiliate, the DreamCricket Academy's bid to renew its existing associate membership hit a roadblock in July 2012 and the matter is still with the board with no timeline for resolution.

Broad Participation: As previously noted, this is another area where ACF sets the right tone. With several classes of voting members, membership and participation are not the privilege of a handful of large leagues. The ACF constitution provides a voice and a vote to every individual, club, league or organization. It is also refreshing to see that ACF is keen on extending a warm welcome to softball and indoor leagues. US Soccer has similar categorization and this is exactly what you would expect from a world class sports organization.

To its credit, ACF gives itself room for expanding the number of categories. I can already think of a few, such as umpires, coaches and statisticians. The constitution committee should consider including them in the final constitution.

The ACF constitution should clearly define privileges that are granted to members who straddle multiple categories. As an example, a 17-year old college level women's player should not be forced to choose between the rights of a Women's Player and Development Player. Instead, she must have the rights associated with both categories. This is largely a feature that can be explored through the membership form.

Ultimately, in order to build goodwill, ACF will need to design and provide services applicable to each category. ACF has said that it expects to release FAQs and a bill of rights. The sooner it releases these documents, the better its chances of signing up members.

Delegates/Agents: This is another area where cricket has not been served too well in recent times. In one instance, a league publicly disavowed an individual who continued to be recognized by the national board as that league's representative. The league's wishes were completely ignored. Instead, the league was notified that the USACA president would take the "matter to the [national] board for resolution."

In other words, the USACA board was going to rule on who would represent a league. This is akin to the US Congress determining who should serve as the representative of a New Jersey district. To make matters more interesting, the league representative who was questioned now sits on the USACA board.

The ACF constitution avoids such conflicts by placing the responsibility squarely in the league's hands - "In the case of League and Club Members, the individual registered as the member's agent shall vote on the member's behalf."

USA Cricket in 2012 - A year in review

openingbat — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:38:00 GMT

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

By Venu Palaparthi

For cricketers across America, 2012 was a year that held a lot of promise but it was also a year in which the occasional bright spots were eclipsed by an unresponsive cricket administration.

USACA began the year with a successful player camp in Fort Lauderdale. Players praised the camp calling it the best run USACA camp since the one held in December 2009 ahead of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. “Unfortunately lack of planning, lack of management skills has probably cost us a lot. We have started now on a positive note,” Ahmed Jeddy, chair of the USACA cricket committee said.

With that, the bouquets for USACA’s administrators ended. As the winter turned to spring, USACA made some perplexing moves that will undoubtedly haunt the organization for some time to come.

“This year, voting is more than just the core responsibility of citizenship; it is an act of defiance against malicious political forces determined to reduce access to democracy,” noted The New York Times in an editorial column titled ‘The Struggle to Cast a Vote’ ahead of the USA presidential election. “Public outcry, with support from the courts, may eventually remove these threats to democracy.”

Alas, the cricket community could not accomplish what a nation of 311 million could. Neither the public outcry nor the courts succeeded in protecting the democratic process from a compliance process that began for all the right reasons but ended up being used as a tool for disenfranchisement.

The much awaited USACA election in April comprising only 15 leagues was about as inclusive as you might expect in a tin-pot regime masquerading as a democracy.

As expected, the election delivered power into the hands of Gladstone Dainty and his friends. If anyone thought that USACA would now focus on the job of rebuilding, having freed itself of the distractions of a pesky opposition, they were proved wrong. USACA proceeded to underwhelm on nearly every front.

On the membership front, expressing disappointment that only around one third of USACA’s membership was in good standing, USACA issued a media release in which it promised to help leagues become compliant. USACA ended the year with an even smaller membership and now has just four functioning regions and 12 leagues in good standing. By DreamCricket.com's estimate, over 705 hard-ball cricket clubs or teams in the US operate outside of the USACA framework.

On the administrative front, a quick look at USACA’s 100-Day Plan which was announced in May offers every MBA student a lesson on why it is important NOT to set expectations that one cannot realistically meet. Not satisfied with falling behind on its initial 100-day plan goals, USACA set itself additional goals on October 5, 2012, when it promised "coaching sessions and high performance clinics will be conducted by Robin Singh within 45 days" of the press release. In the same release, USACA announced that "preparation [for ICC Division 3 tournament and ICC World Cup Qualifiers] will be complete within 45 days from the date of this press release." Like many previous USACA promises, these too were quickly forgotten.

On the tournament front, by February, it was clear that USA was not in a position to host the ICC WCL Division Four tournament.

Pic (Right) - Screengrab from USACA website. All national fixtures scheduled for 2012 were cancelled.

At the national level, USACA’s U-17 tournament was first postponed, then cancelled. All other national tournaments - USACA Women's National Tournament, the U-15 National Tournament, and the U-19 National Tournament - met with the same fate. The men’s national mutated into an East-West ‘shuffle’ comprising one 50-over match and a trial T20.

The few tournament opportunities for the players were courtesy of the ICC. There were also a few successful independent tournaments organized by the New York Public Schools Athletic League, American Cricket Federation, American College Cricket and Cricket Council USA, but hardly any from USACA.

Financially, the promised CHA millions are yet to arrive and recent news reports point to a potential divide between CHA and USACA. Even more distressing, USACA exited the year with more lawsuits than ever before.

On the field, inadequate tournament preparations notwithstanding, Team USA did the country proud. At the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, USA finished 12th with three wins in nine games. However, the wins were notable because they came against Bermuda, Oman and Scotland, teams that are currently ranked higher than USA on the World Cricket League ladder.

The following month, the USA Women were unlucky to be edged out of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier on net run rate as rain washed out their final against Canada in the ICC Americas Division One tournament held in the Cayman Islands.

In July, USA took part in the ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp with each team - Bermuda, Canada and USA - playing four matches. Canada finished at the top of the table after accumulating the most points based on the bonus point structure of the event. USA did well to win their last two matches as the boys began to understand each other’s strengths and gel as a team.

September took USA to the ICC WCL Division Four event in Malaysia where USA conducted a successful campaign and regained their place in Division Three, thus keeping USA’s hopes alive for 2015 World Cup qualification.

Pic (above) - USA celebrates on a damp Bayuemas Oval after gaining promotion to next year's ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

While the players did reasonably well, it was clear that with better preparation and planning, they could have done even better. In fact, at the end of the ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp, USA U-18 coach Mumtaz Yusuf said, “There’s a lot of work to be done. We need to have the team together for a longer period of time if you want to really succeed.” Golden words, but quickly forgotten by USACA. Nothing was done for the remainder of 2012 for USACA's junior development teams and no plans have been announced as we enter 2013.

In the good news category, though the much talked about USA T20 league was pushed back to 2013, the two T20 matches featuring West Indies and New Zealand helped to improve Lauderhill’s reputation as an international cricket venue.

Cricket continues to thrive at the grassroots without the input from the national board. The number of hard ball and soft ball cricket leagues in USA is estimated to have crossed 100. The US Youth Cricket Association has successfully scaled its operations and continues to introduce cricket to schools at a faster rate than ever before. More academies and indoor practice facilities have opened in 2012 than in any single year in history. At the college level, American College Cricket now has affiliated clubs in over 50 colleges and its championships are televised on TV Asia. Several leading brands associated with the sport, including ESPN, MoneyGram, and MetLife, have made initial forays into USA.

Cricket in the USA now finds itself at a fork in the road. Years of intrigue and divisive politics have made the nation’s cricketers insular. Many are unconvinced about the benefits of associating with each other and it remains to be seen if recent efforts by ACF to galvanize the leagues will prove successful.

Meanwhile, USACA’s recent track record has not exactly enhanced its prestige. In fact, USACA’s influence over cricket has faded to the point of irrelevance. USACA’s future relies heavily on the lifeline of ICC recognition and good news emanating from CHA.

Fittingly, the best news and the most positive quote for USACA came on the last day of 2012. “I look forward to leading USACA’s national efforts, as well as working closely with the member leagues, clubs [underlined for emphasis] and partners to ensure cricket’s vast potential in the US is realized,” the newly appointed CEO Darren Beazley is quoted as saying.

USA's cricket community hopes that Mr. Beazley will work closely with all leagues. If he has followed USA cricket lately, he should know that there are hardly any member leagues left.

Here's wishing everyone a better 2013.

USACA's support base erodes further

openingbat — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 22:44:00 GMT

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By Venu Palaparthi

In an affidavit in opposition to the order to show cause in the petition filed by Kenwyn Williams asking that USACA be dissolved, Gladstone Dainty claimed that the board's decision to suspend Kenwyn Williams was approved by nine leagues in good standing, constituting two-thirds majority of the twelve USACA leagues eligible to vote.

For the first time since the controversial election, USACA acknowledged that its membership was down to twelve good-standing leagues, down from the fifteen leagues that voted in April 2012. But that is not the whole story.

Attached to the affidavit were nine ballots from leagues indicating approval of the board's November 1 decision. At least two league presidents have since disputed the authority of the signatories.

Michael Dupigny signed the ballot on behalf of Washington Metro Cricket Board (WMCB) claiming to be the Acting Chairman of the Board of Directors for that league. When reached for comment regarding his league's support of the USACA board decision, WMCB President, Avinash Varma, denied knowledge of the ballot. Responding via email, Varma wrote that "Mike Dupigny does not hold any office with the WMCB league since March 24, 2012." Varma noted that WMCB's BOD was dissolved by the membership at a special session held in March.

New Jersey Cricket Association's newly elected president, Govind Itwaru told DreamCricket.com that he had not seen the ballot and could not comment on its contents. However, Itwaru said that Sheldon Mollineau, who had signed on behalf of the league, had resigned as the president of NJCA on November 16, 2012 and could not claim to represent the league following his resignation. The undated ballot had an electronic signature of Sheldon Mollineau whose title appears as President of NJCA.

Interestingly, even though the ballots had to be faxed or emailed no later than 9PM ET on December 9, 2012, at least three of the ballots had a facsimile date following that date.

If USACA had twelve leagues in good standing, then eight leagues would have constituted a two-thirds majority. It is apparent that USACA had trouble meeting that basic requirement by December 9th.