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By Peter Della Penna

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There are only two weeks until USA’s squad departs for Bologna, Italy, in the next phase of qualifying for the 2015 ICC World Cup. The squad announced by USACA on Friday sees four changes from the team that toured Bermuda for the ICC Americas Division One Tournament in May and June.

Bilal Khan, Ashhar Mehdi, Moazzam Imtiaz and Clain Williams have been left out, along with Andy Mohammed who was originally selected for the tour to Bermuda which he missed due to injury. In their places are Steven Taylor, Kevin Darlington, Usman Shuja and Nasir “Charlie” Javed.

Captain Steve Massiah is very pleased with the squad that he will take with him to compete in the World Cricket League Division Four tournament against the host nation Italy as well as Cayman Islands, Argentina, Nepal and Tanzania.

“It’s an excellent team,” said Massiah by phone on Sunday night. “I think it’s the best composition. It’s an experienced team and for the first time I think in U.S. history, or probably in my time of playing, there have been four Under-25 players in the squad. So I think it’s definitely a team for the present and for the future so I think overall it’s an excellent composition.”

The four players under the age of 25 are Timroy Allen, Muhammad Ghous, Adrian Gordon and Taylor. Gordon and Ghous were the only two out of the six first-time players selected for USA’s tour of Bermuda that have been retained in the squad. While Massiah gave lots of praise to Ghous after the conclusion of the tour in June, the captain was also impressed with the performance of Gordon.

Pic (Right): Muhammad Ghous was one four players named to the squad who are under 25 years of age.  [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia]

“I think he’s pacy,” said Massiah. “He’s probably one of the fastest bowlers in the country. He’s young, so I think that’s what he brings, the youth and he’s a very exciting prospect.”

Taylor will get another chance to play with the men’s team after debuting against Jamaica during The Pearls Cup in Lauderhill, Fla., this past May. The 16-year-old is the only American-born player in the squad and will be an understudy to wicketkeeper-batsman Carl Wright.

“Steven Taylor’s addition is for the future,” said Massiah. “He’s an exciting young opening batsman and a competent enough keeper, especially with the experience of Carl Wright in this team, it will do wonders for him. Wright will take him under his wing and hopefully he can take over in the future so definitely that’s a positive step.”

Shuja and Darlington return after missing the tour to Bermuda because of school and work obligations respectively. The fact that USA performed so well in Bermuda despite missing their top two pace bowlers bodes well for the upcoming tournament in Italy and Massiah is delighted to have them back.

“Of course it does wonders for the team in the sense that it brings our pace bowling attack some much needed experience, especially in a tournament like this where promotion is of absolute importance,” said Massiah.

Javed, the South East Region representative on the USACA Board of Directors, last played for USA almost two years ago. In the 2008 ICC Americas Division One Tournament played in Florida, the leg-spinner took three wickets in five games at an average of 32.66. This year for his club team, Coconut Creek CC in the Florida Southeast Cricket League, Javed tied for ninth in the league wickets column, taking 16 in 11 games at an average of 18.50. Massiah believes he can still contribute at the international level.

Pic (Right): USACA board member Nasir Javed, 44, was curiously inserted into the squad in a move that appears to have been endorsed by a majority of his fellow board members.   [Courtesy: USACA.org]

“Nasir Javed is probably United States’ most prolific wicket taker and having him back in the squad gives the squad definite variety that we’ve been lacking because pretty much we’ve been a one-dimensional attack whereby four seamers and four off-spinners so that brings a much needed variety,” said Massiah. “Also with Javed’s wealth of experience, someone who has played first-class cricket in Pakistan and has represented United States with great success, I mean that can only help.”

Javed was selected despite not being in the short list for the selection camp that took place in December before the February tour of the UAE and Nepal, nor was he in the short list for the selection camp in April used to choose USA’s squad for the May and June tour of Bermuda. Massiah believes that age should not be an issue for the selection of Javed, who is listed at 44 years old.

“I don’t think that’s an issue, his age, because I think if you are good enough, then you should play,” said Massiah. “I would not comment on his age because we’ve had players in the past who’ve been as old or even older and have represented America and it’s never been an issue. Like I said, for the first time, the United States have selected four guys who are under 25. If we could go deep into the history, I don’t think it has ever happened. So I think there’s a lot of positives there. I mean, there’s focus on the present. The most important thing in the United States is for us to keep promoting. I mean we’re not there to go participate in the tournament and it doesn’t matter whether we win or lose. It’s of absolute importance that we come one-two so like I said I’m very happy with the overall composition.”

Massiah hopes that fans will support the team. As he has said before, he wants to make sure the team keeps advancing through the World Cricket League until they are back in the top flight of Associate nations.

“I’d just like to say that I wish that people could just rally around the team and wish us well because at the end of the day, what we’re doing here is for all U.S. and it’s for the future of U.S. cricket,” said Massiah. “Us getting to the [World Cup] Qualifiers is essential to the growth and development of U.S. cricket and the 2015 World Cup in another five years, it’s important that we keeping doing well and we keep either winning these tournaments or at least placing second so this way we gain the much needed promotion and hopefully we can get back where in my humble opinion I think we rightly belong: in the Division One Tournament.

“Let’s look at Canada for instance. They’ve been playing in the West Indies [Twenty20] tournament there and they haven’t been that competitive. We played against the Jamaica team and from day one to the final day, we kept improving. I really think that we do possess the talent. It’s just a matter of us doing what we have to do and getting back to where we rightly belong and that’s, in my opinion, in the Division One Tournament.”

USA Squad: Steve Massiah (Captain), Sushil Nadkarni, (Vice Captain), Aditya Thyagarajan, Adrian Gordon, Carl Wright, Kevin Darlington, Khawaja Usman Shuja, Lennox Cush, Muhammad Asad Ghous, Nasir Javed, Orlando Baker, Rashard Marshall, Steven Taylor, Timroy Allen, along with Clayton Lambert (Coach) and Imran Khan (Manager).