‘USACA suspended—Sometimes, cricket does not see the forest for the trees!’
Published: Guardian
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Tim Anderson, right, the ICC head of global development and West Indies President Dave Cameron—“What we want to find out is what is happening in the USA in cricket" © Peter Della Penna.
“Not being able to see the forest for the trees†can be loosely translated to another idiom; “Not being aware of the bigger picture.†Cricket accommodates both! So, news that USACA, United States Cricket Association, has been, again, for at least the third time, suspended by International Cricket Council, will have come as no surprise to anyone, if, like me, you had your ears to the ground as to what transpires perennially as organised cricket in USA.
While we were completing assignments for ESPN International, covering ICC World T-20 Championships played in Bangladesh in early 2014, even then this suspension was on the cards, as confirmed by an associate who had inside, secure knowledge of this terrible situation.
<The American Factions>
Cricket in USA has been fractured into factions with no positively governing unit to sew it all up. South/Central Florida faction, Washington/New York or Eastern USA faction, then those of middle-America—Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and Kansas etc—along with Texas faction, and the Western USA faction, which includes Nevada and California, are just a few such pieces.
Yes, distances are great, but the cricket-enjoying and game-playing population in USA, even with influences of descendants, probably third generation by now, of primarily Indians, Pakistanis, other Asian countries, West Indians, Australians, New Zealanders and Englishmen, could not be more than, being generous, 50 million, in this vast land whose population is nearing 400 million.
<Is the ICC at fault here>
United Kingdom and especially India have way more than 50 million people, yet they manage to organise their cricket in a positively acceptable manner for their populace. Why is it not so for USA? Can ICC not be held somewhat responsible for this situation too? I know David Richardson, whom I have great respect for, former South African wicket-keeper, now lawyer and ICC’s Chief Executive Officer, relatively well. Of course, because of his latter profession, he recognizes, understands and follows legal due process, as most legal minds do.
Sometimes, though, that process simply takes too damn long. Hopefully, this is final straw for USACA as the useless crab-in-a-barrel entity it has been for so long. It is time for vast changes! Also noteworthy is that my old adversary, a wonderful batsman in his time, Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas, a real legend, has been “promoted†to being ICC’s interim president for the next year.
<What cricket really need>
Our sport needs two cricketers at the helm, real people with experiences of fighting in the trenches, not just pen pushers and accountants, who do also have their rightful places too. But, reiterating rhetorically, how can ICC have allowed this unadulterated mess in USA’s cricket to continue in exactly the same fashion over so many years?
If you think that West Indies cricket has been badly run, you really have not seen or understood anything yet as to how terribly inefficiently cricket in United States of America has been run. ICC should have enforced its accountability mandates ages ago. All that USACA has always been is a small fiefdom, an incompetent cabal!
There has always been that eternal wish that cricket would properly break into the psyche of sports in USA. Indeed, West Indies Cricket Board had been originally tasked at taking USA’s cricket to that next higher level. Unfortunately, that has never happened. USA’s cricketing masses have been even more enlivened with the airing, on ESPN International’s platforms, of ICC World T-20 2014 and recent ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 from Australia and New Zealand, and the offerings have been rapturously received. Now this!
As the saying goes; “better late than never.†ICC must now, as never before, as main monitoring and governing body of cricket world-wide, make its full weight and office not only known, but wholly effective, leaving USACA no lee-way whatsoever. This mess must finally be cleaned up!
Since 1981, when I came to reside in South Florida, I have followed this situation, and as they say in Guyana; “it moves from pillar to post,†hitting every possible obstacle of bad management. No-one seems to ever know what is going on with USA cricket, not even those making decisions.
USACA has been as closed a shop managerially as some middle-eastern countries have ever been, but those countries have one thing in their favor; continued upwards financial mobility, even if nepotism and lineage play out well too. USACA has always been clothed in sad incompetence! I have had contacts and communications with several independent cricket entities in USA, and all, without exception, have had nothing but disparagingly bad reports about USACA.
Yet, if you remember, it was not so long ago, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, that USA and Canada were considered to be close to, if indeed not better than Bermuda, Scotland and Ireland in ICC ratings for Associate cricket countries. Both Canada and USA had even teams come to the Caribbean to participate in our regional cricket competitions, so as to toughen them up for further climbs up ICC’s Associate ratings.
Recently, Canada was down-graded to No. 20 and USA a lowly No. 23. That is disgraceful! We shall see how this goes, but thankfully, time is winding down on the present USACA! Enjoy!
Been through this twice before. USA cricket always been tussle between which ex-pat clique
