USA claimed Photo of the Year and Best Women's Cricket Initiative.

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By Peter Della Penna

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The ICC Americas Regional Development office in Toronto has unveiled the list of winners for the 2011 Pepsi ICC Development Program Awards for the Americas Region. USA claimed two awards – Photo of the Year and Best Women’s Cricket Initiative. The awards are given to recognize efforts to spread and grow the game for countries at the Associate level.

The Photo of the Year, titled “In Flight”, was used in an article that appeared in the Stamford (CT) Advocate. It’s an image of seven-year-old Rehman Dar from Shaheen Cricket Club in Stamford who is pictured in his delivery stride while a garbage can stands adjacent to him acting as a set of stumps.

USA beat out the other Associate countries in the Best Women’s Cricket Initiative category for the Apple Pickers Foundation’s involvement in funding the USA Women’s team’s preparation for the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh. USACA received a $100,000 grant from the Apple Pickers Foundation, which is based in Westerly, Rhode Island. USACA used the majority of the money to hold a 10-day training camp in Barbados last August for members of the USA Women’s squad ahead of the ICC tournament in November.

The two awards for USA this year follow an award USA won in 2010 for Best Junior Cricket Initiative, which recognized Jamie Harrison’s efforts with the United States Youth Cricket Association. This year’s winners will be judged against winners from the four other Associate regions of the ICC for the global awards.

Global award winners in the Pepsi ICC Development Program Annual Awards will receive a $2,000 cricket equipment grant that will go to the national governing body of the winning country. USACA has a chance to win up to $4,000 in cricket equipment grants from the ICC. Global winners will be announced by February 28.