The next month or two will tell us if US cricket is still ruled by a despot or if there is "spring" in the air.
Gladstone Dainty has managed to cling to power though seemingly illegal tactics -- from not announcing the Atlantic region's results in July to keeping Masood Chik as the Central East rep despite his being recalled by a 10-0 vote and suspending John Aaron without due process to interfering in the women's cricket selections to claiming to clean USACA by deciding which leagues can vote and by asking all regions to hold elections again as part of this "pristine" campaign.
Gladstone Dainty appears to be very bad news for US cricket. He doesn't appear to care about the wellness of US cricket -- the precipitous decline of the US in the world scene in the last three years is well documented. He seemingly eliminates (thankfully only virtually) his board opponents and replaces them with yes-men. He is known to deliver selection and travel favors for a price or a vote. He is in power because there are enough other shady administrators running leagues and regions in US cricket who become Dainty's yes-men for the usual reasons.
There are three declared nominees as of now for President of USACA in the December elections. Dainty has not announced his intention but has spread rumors that he will run to some and that he will not run to others. The first to announce his intention is the ex-First-VP, Nabeel Ahmed, who decided to quit the USACA board many months back instead of openly confronting Dainty and his evil ways. Next to announce is a less-known but well-heeled businessman from Florida, Max Quereshi, known to throw money around as needed. And the latest to announce his intention is Ram Vardarajan, once a threat to Dainty but now his compatriot in the controversially-appointed board of Cricket Holdings America, the place where serious money is expected to pour in from the outside world but not necessarily into US cricket at the grass-roots level.
To be honest, none of the candidates inspire confidence. Any links to Dainty only adds to one's worry. But US cricket suffers from a serious lack of honest cricket-first administrators and so it may well be a case of choosing the least of all evils.
One of the key determinants of this election is which leagues get to vote. That will be decided by the so-called Dainty-sponsored compliance criteria which effectively appears to be a front for who will likely vote from Dainty or his friends. The only recourse left to leagues that are summarily banned or suspended is legal action. It may well come to that while real cricket in the US takes a back seat as it has for the last three years.
We will know how all this plays out between now and end of the year.
November 2, 2011
August 9, 2011
USA U19 at 2011 ICC Global Qualifiers in Ireland
August 9, 2011
Nepal beat US convincingly in the last match for the two teams resulting in US failing to qualify for the "real deal" in 2012 in Northern Australia. Electing to bat after winning the toss, Nepal, despite some good pace bowling from Shahid and Salman which reduced them to 78 for 4, had two large partnerships -- one of patience and one of care-free hitting to take them to 264 in the allotted 50 overs. In reply, a fiery half century by Taylor got the US to 78 for 4 in just 20 overs with Mirza and Joshi not bothering the scorers while captain Sewdial made 4 and Suri made 13. However, unlike Nepal from the same position, the US could only get to 165 in 44 overs with Salman and Shayan contributing in delaying defeat.
US finished seventh in the points table ahead of Canada, Kenya and Vanautu, all of whom will stay home when the 2012 U19 World Cup gets into full swing next summer. Clearly, there are a lot of things that conspired to prevent the US to make it to the world stage but what was glaring through the tournament was their shoddy fielding and catching and, more starkly, their lack of consistent batting prowess, save Taylor who accumulated close to 450 runs in 9 matches. Without him, the seventh place finish would not even have been possible for the US.
August 7, 2011
US laid an egg against Canada who played inspired cricket. Man of the match Aulakh ripped through the US lineup who were shown wanting in technique as the pitch did offer early assistance. Electing to bat first, the US could only muster 101 runs and couldn't even bat 50 overs. The Canadians got the runs with the loss of five wickets with only Shahid, who shockingly bowled one change, showing any fire in his bowling.
This loss makes US's last match versus Nepal all important. A win will all but guarantee US passage to the CWC while a loss, particularly a huge loss, will likely mean an exit from CWC. A close loss will bring NR-based tie-breaking scenarios into play which will reveal themselves at the end of Tuesday when the tournament concludes.
August 5, 2011
US made short work of Vanautu in a rain-affected match. Vanautu batting first got to 132 in 32 overs for the loss of eight wickets. The US reached 120 for 2 in 21 overs before rain ended play and US were declared winners based on D-L method. Given the weak Vanautu bowling attack, it was quite odd that a circumspect Taylor saw the US through.
US is now in fourth place with a 4-3 record. They play their arch rivals Canada next. A win will guarantee qualification while a loss will guarantee all kinds of complications.
August 4, 2011
US easily defeated Kenya to climb to 3-3 in the standings. Put into bat first, the US got to 239 for 9 in 50 overs thanks to a well-constructed 68 from captain Sewdial and a steady 41 from Joshi who were involved in a crucial 106-run partnership for the third wicket. The rest of the batting never really got untracked except for a breezy 28 by Suri towards the end of the innings. In reply, Kenya could only muster 108 in 34 overs with Ahmad getting three wickets with Shahid, Abdulghani and Suri chipping in with 2 wickets each. Many positives from this important win -- batting through 50 overs and bowling efficiently.
US climbed to fifth in the standings. They are now tied with Namibia, Canada and PNG with their 3-3 record. US play 0-6 Vanuatu Saturday while Canada faces PNG and Namibia play Scotland.
August 3, 2011
US's deficiencies in batting showed up as they lost to Scotland in their fifth match, this one in Northern Ireland. US could only muster 124 in 35 overs with many batters getting out to poor shots. Only three batsmen got into double figures -- Taylor (28), Sewdial (31) and Joshi (23) -- and none of them went to play through the innings. While Mirza and Persaud appeared wanting in terms of technique in the top order, the middle order pretty much threw their wickets to indiscreet shots, something for which they cannot have any excuses. The Scottish batsmen despite losing two early wickets to Mittal Patel stuck to proper cricket and won by eight wickets.
The next match on Friday is a big one as it is against another 2-3 team with a better NRR - Kenya. Hopefully, the US team can regroup and play sensible cricket -- bat 50 overs, bowl tightly and field like every run matters. If they can beat Kenya and Vanuatu on successive days, they will have a decent shot at qualifying going into the final two matches.
August 1, 2011
The US got past Afghanistan in a rain-affected match. They are now very much in the thick of things with 4 points, with five matches to go of. Starring for the US was pacer and man-of-the-match Mittal Patel with six wickets including an inning-ending hat-trick with Shahid chipping in with two wickets from eight probing overs. Stephen Taylor again got the US off to a flier with a brisk 49. Fellow opener Mirza made a quiet 34 while Jodhbir and Salman saw the US through with 3 balls to spare with D/L method in effect and three wickets in hand. Both Sewdial (28) and Joshi (10) of the middle order did not do justice yet again to their batting talent and got out just when they looked set while the other middle order batsman Persaud failed to open his score. This continues to be an area of some concern for the US team.
All in all, a big win for the US team as they head to Northern Ireland for the rest of the competition. They need to win at least two and possibly three of the remaining five matches, especially against Vanatu who are in the cellar, Canada who likely are true equals and Kenya who are a bit of an unknown, to finish in the top six. Scotland and Nepal wins would be an added bonus as one senses they are better on paper based on performances to date.
July 31, 2011
The US defeated Namibia by 46 runs to claim its first victory. That along with its positive NRR means they are seventh in the standings with 6 more matches to go. US batted after winning the toss and thanks to a blistering century by the in-form Steven Taylor were at 151 in 20 overs when Taylor departed. Thanks to a 40 by Persaud and an unbeaten 55 by Pranay Suri, they made it to 312 in 50 overs although more was possible on the small venue and fast outfield. Again, Sewdial, Joshi and Mirza did not do much to get back into the sort of form from where the US can really dominate proceedings. The US bowlers, but for Suri and Shahid, went for runs, early and often. Patel and Gurpreet Sandhu were particularly guilty of some loose bowling. However, Ahmad and Patel did come back at the end to cut off the Namibia rally at 266 after some nervous periods. Fielding continued to be substandard but there were one or two brilliant catches as well.
It is clear that a change in batting order is needed. Mirza is just not the opener that we thought he was from his ICC Americas performances and Joshi is going through quite a lean patch. Sewdial has to start batting like he once was capable of and hopefully still has it in him. Jodhbir has been inconsistent but that is the nature of his batting -- hit or miss -- but may be useful in the early overs when power play is on. As far as bowling is concerned, it makes no sense to not open with Shahid. Not sure what the thinking is with that. It doesn't make any sense to not play Shayan ahead of Gurpreet. Another mystifying selection choice. As has been said before in this blog, Taylor should not be keeping given the batting workload expected of him as an opener, game in and game out. The selectors in their infinite wisdom did not have a backup keeper in the 14. Either Taylor is going to tire as the tournament progresses or worse get injured. Either way, that will only hurt the team's chances.
Next match is against Afghanistan who play aggressive cricket but can be beaten with smart cricket on US's part. Lets hope the US boys do what it takes as a win against Afghanistan will be a huge boost going to Northern Ireland.
July 29, 2011
The US won the toss and surprisingly put PNG (Papua New Guinea) into bat, possibly because of the rain that reduced the match to 43 overs. PNG made hay of things and got to an imposing total of 262 for 9 with their top three batters accounting for 2/3 of those runs. US bowling was expensive with only Jodhbir going for just 25 in 8 overs. Mittal Patel did get four wickets in the slog overs but conceded 56 runs.
US started their response weakly with Mirza and Persaud out cheaply. Captain Sewdial and Joshi didn't help either getting out for low scores. Taylor was all ablaze and almost single handedly kept US in the match. There was a stirring last wicket partnership by Hammad Shahid and Mittal Patel which came within 6 runs of the total but sadly it was not to be.
The "feet" aspect of US cricket continues to be poor -- too many fielding lapses and too many run-outs/near run outs which is unlikely to improve. Given that, the US top batting order has to fire which except for Taylor has been dormant. One suggestion would be to replace Mirza with Jodhbir at the opening slot -- he is an attacking opener (opens for NWR) who can take the game away from the opposition on his day.
For what it is worth, the US NRR is the best among the bottom five but that is not much of a consolation unless they have some points as only three teams (including the US) are at 0 points. The US need a win against Namibia (who are 2-0) on Sunday to keep up their spirits and chances.
July 28, 2011
The U19 campaign started with a very close match with hosts Ireland. After being put into bat, the US team got to 177/9 in 50 thanks to rearguard action by the lower middle order after being 82/5 midway. The Irish team overhauled the score in the second last ball of the allotted 50 overs with just one wicket to spare.
The US went with three spinners and two seamers with Jodhbir Singh bowling pace as an all-rounder. Surprisingly, US U19 spearhead, Hammad Shahid was warming the bench instead of bowling on a seam-friendly track. Hope this was because he was unfit. Despite Hammad's omission, the US bowling was quite effective but their poor catching and sloppy fielding did not help at all. The US batting top order but for Taylor and Persaud failed miserably and that also had a telling effect on the outcome of the match. Next up is Papua New Guinea who lost their first match to Namibia.
Nepal beat US convincingly in the last match for the two teams resulting in US failing to qualify for the "real deal" in 2012 in Northern Australia. Electing to bat after winning the toss, Nepal, despite some good pace bowling from Shahid and Salman which reduced them to 78 for 4, had two large partnerships -- one of patience and one of care-free hitting to take them to 264 in the allotted 50 overs. In reply, a fiery half century by Taylor got the US to 78 for 4 in just 20 overs with Mirza and Joshi not bothering the scorers while captain Sewdial made 4 and Suri made 13. However, unlike Nepal from the same position, the US could only get to 165 in 44 overs with Salman and Shayan contributing in delaying defeat.
US finished seventh in the points table ahead of Canada, Kenya and Vanautu, all of whom will stay home when the 2012 U19 World Cup gets into full swing next summer. Clearly, there are a lot of things that conspired to prevent the US to make it to the world stage but what was glaring through the tournament was their shoddy fielding and catching and, more starkly, their lack of consistent batting prowess, save Taylor who accumulated close to 450 runs in 9 matches. Without him, the seventh place finish would not even have been possible for the US.
August 7, 2011
US laid an egg against Canada who played inspired cricket. Man of the match Aulakh ripped through the US lineup who were shown wanting in technique as the pitch did offer early assistance. Electing to bat first, the US could only muster 101 runs and couldn't even bat 50 overs. The Canadians got the runs with the loss of five wickets with only Shahid, who shockingly bowled one change, showing any fire in his bowling.
This loss makes US's last match versus Nepal all important. A win will all but guarantee US passage to the CWC while a loss, particularly a huge loss, will likely mean an exit from CWC. A close loss will bring NR-based tie-breaking scenarios into play which will reveal themselves at the end of Tuesday when the tournament concludes.
August 5, 2011
US made short work of Vanautu in a rain-affected match. Vanautu batting first got to 132 in 32 overs for the loss of eight wickets. The US reached 120 for 2 in 21 overs before rain ended play and US were declared winners based on D-L method. Given the weak Vanautu bowling attack, it was quite odd that a circumspect Taylor saw the US through.
US is now in fourth place with a 4-3 record. They play their arch rivals Canada next. A win will guarantee qualification while a loss will guarantee all kinds of complications.
August 4, 2011
US easily defeated Kenya to climb to 3-3 in the standings. Put into bat first, the US got to 239 for 9 in 50 overs thanks to a well-constructed 68 from captain Sewdial and a steady 41 from Joshi who were involved in a crucial 106-run partnership for the third wicket. The rest of the batting never really got untracked except for a breezy 28 by Suri towards the end of the innings. In reply, Kenya could only muster 108 in 34 overs with Ahmad getting three wickets with Shahid, Abdulghani and Suri chipping in with 2 wickets each. Many positives from this important win -- batting through 50 overs and bowling efficiently.
US climbed to fifth in the standings. They are now tied with Namibia, Canada and PNG with their 3-3 record. US play 0-6 Vanuatu Saturday while Canada faces PNG and Namibia play Scotland.
August 3, 2011
US's deficiencies in batting showed up as they lost to Scotland in their fifth match, this one in Northern Ireland. US could only muster 124 in 35 overs with many batters getting out to poor shots. Only three batsmen got into double figures -- Taylor (28), Sewdial (31) and Joshi (23) -- and none of them went to play through the innings. While Mirza and Persaud appeared wanting in terms of technique in the top order, the middle order pretty much threw their wickets to indiscreet shots, something for which they cannot have any excuses. The Scottish batsmen despite losing two early wickets to Mittal Patel stuck to proper cricket and won by eight wickets.
The next match on Friday is a big one as it is against another 2-3 team with a better NRR - Kenya. Hopefully, the US team can regroup and play sensible cricket -- bat 50 overs, bowl tightly and field like every run matters. If they can beat Kenya and Vanuatu on successive days, they will have a decent shot at qualifying going into the final two matches.
August 1, 2011
The US got past Afghanistan in a rain-affected match. They are now very much in the thick of things with 4 points, with five matches to go of. Starring for the US was pacer and man-of-the-match Mittal Patel with six wickets including an inning-ending hat-trick with Shahid chipping in with two wickets from eight probing overs. Stephen Taylor again got the US off to a flier with a brisk 49. Fellow opener Mirza made a quiet 34 while Jodhbir and Salman saw the US through with 3 balls to spare with D/L method in effect and three wickets in hand. Both Sewdial (28) and Joshi (10) of the middle order did not do justice yet again to their batting talent and got out just when they looked set while the other middle order batsman Persaud failed to open his score. This continues to be an area of some concern for the US team.
All in all, a big win for the US team as they head to Northern Ireland for the rest of the competition. They need to win at least two and possibly three of the remaining five matches, especially against Vanatu who are in the cellar, Canada who likely are true equals and Kenya who are a bit of an unknown, to finish in the top six. Scotland and Nepal wins would be an added bonus as one senses they are better on paper based on performances to date.
July 31, 2011
The US defeated Namibia by 46 runs to claim its first victory. That along with its positive NRR means they are seventh in the standings with 6 more matches to go. US batted after winning the toss and thanks to a blistering century by the in-form Steven Taylor were at 151 in 20 overs when Taylor departed. Thanks to a 40 by Persaud and an unbeaten 55 by Pranay Suri, they made it to 312 in 50 overs although more was possible on the small venue and fast outfield. Again, Sewdial, Joshi and Mirza did not do much to get back into the sort of form from where the US can really dominate proceedings. The US bowlers, but for Suri and Shahid, went for runs, early and often. Patel and Gurpreet Sandhu were particularly guilty of some loose bowling. However, Ahmad and Patel did come back at the end to cut off the Namibia rally at 266 after some nervous periods. Fielding continued to be substandard but there were one or two brilliant catches as well.
It is clear that a change in batting order is needed. Mirza is just not the opener that we thought he was from his ICC Americas performances and Joshi is going through quite a lean patch. Sewdial has to start batting like he once was capable of and hopefully still has it in him. Jodhbir has been inconsistent but that is the nature of his batting -- hit or miss -- but may be useful in the early overs when power play is on. As far as bowling is concerned, it makes no sense to not open with Shahid. Not sure what the thinking is with that. It doesn't make any sense to not play Shayan ahead of Gurpreet. Another mystifying selection choice. As has been said before in this blog, Taylor should not be keeping given the batting workload expected of him as an opener, game in and game out. The selectors in their infinite wisdom did not have a backup keeper in the 14. Either Taylor is going to tire as the tournament progresses or worse get injured. Either way, that will only hurt the team's chances.
Next match is against Afghanistan who play aggressive cricket but can be beaten with smart cricket on US's part. Lets hope the US boys do what it takes as a win against Afghanistan will be a huge boost going to Northern Ireland.
July 29, 2011
The US won the toss and surprisingly put PNG (Papua New Guinea) into bat, possibly because of the rain that reduced the match to 43 overs. PNG made hay of things and got to an imposing total of 262 for 9 with their top three batters accounting for 2/3 of those runs. US bowling was expensive with only Jodhbir going for just 25 in 8 overs. Mittal Patel did get four wickets in the slog overs but conceded 56 runs.
US started their response weakly with Mirza and Persaud out cheaply. Captain Sewdial and Joshi didn't help either getting out for low scores. Taylor was all ablaze and almost single handedly kept US in the match. There was a stirring last wicket partnership by Hammad Shahid and Mittal Patel which came within 6 runs of the total but sadly it was not to be.
The "feet" aspect of US cricket continues to be poor -- too many fielding lapses and too many run-outs/near run outs which is unlikely to improve. Given that, the US top batting order has to fire which except for Taylor has been dormant. One suggestion would be to replace Mirza with Jodhbir at the opening slot -- he is an attacking opener (opens for NWR) who can take the game away from the opposition on his day.
For what it is worth, the US NRR is the best among the bottom five but that is not much of a consolation unless they have some points as only three teams (including the US) are at 0 points. The US need a win against Namibia (who are 2-0) on Sunday to keep up their spirits and chances.
July 28, 2011
The U19 campaign started with a very close match with hosts Ireland. After being put into bat, the US team got to 177/9 in 50 thanks to rearguard action by the lower middle order after being 82/5 midway. The Irish team overhauled the score in the second last ball of the allotted 50 overs with just one wicket to spare.
The US went with three spinners and two seamers with Jodhbir Singh bowling pace as an all-rounder. Surprisingly, US U19 spearhead, Hammad Shahid was warming the bench instead of bowling on a seam-friendly track. Hope this was because he was unfit. Despite Hammad's omission, the US bowling was quite effective but their poor catching and sloppy fielding did not help at all. The US batting top order but for Taylor and Persaud failed miserably and that also had a telling effect on the outcome of the match. Next up is Papua New Guinea who lost their first match to Namibia.
July 28, 2011
"Making USACA Pristine"
"Better late than never" as the saying goes means "better just before the elections" in USACA-speak. This email started the "making USACA pristine" campaign.
Dear USACA Members
USACA is moving very meticulously towards building a pristine organization, a world class sporting body and every member of USACA is requested to fully cooperate in this endeavor. If you know of any missing leagues please forward this email to them.
Having said that, I would like to mention the following:
1. It is imperative that all leagues registered with USACA must submit the survey spreadsheet (previously sent) by the extended deadline of August 2nd.
2. All worksheets must be filled within the spreadsheet. Leagues who have filled only one or two worksheets, needs to resubmit the complete spreadsheet.
3. There is no further extension to complete the survey spreadsheet.
4. All regional elections that have already occurred will be null and void.
5. Regional elections will follow once the spreadsheets are collected from the leagues based on the information collected and compliance recorded.
6. Regional elections will be monitored and supervised by USACA board.
Thank you for your cooperation.
And when folks (rightly) objected to Mr. Dainty Gladstone's right-hand man/enforcer being the chief compliance officer, what follows was sent out, post haste.
Dear USA Cricket Members:
It is imperative that I mention the USACA Compliance Officer, Mr. Shelton Glasgow is a brave man to have subjected himself and family to such warrant less insults and threats. Mr.Glasgow’s work has produced a body of evidence which is clearly demonstrating that the USACA honor system of compliance has been abused by several leagues and officials.
The volume or work needed to complete this necessary task is now beyond USACA’s internal management. It is therefore necessary that we turn this job over to a capable third party.
Within the next few days an independent accounting or law firm will be engaged with the expectation that all USACA leagues and officials will cooperate to the fullest including a stay of all elections until this process is completed.
I am aware that some regions have held elections, leagues within these regions will also be required to pass this compliance test..
Sincerely,
Gladstone Dainty
President USACA
Lets hope (actually pray) that the "third party" law/accounting firm that is being retained is not run by Mr Dainty's close Demerara friends.
Some would say Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Karzai can learn a thing or two of how to make an awful mess, pristine, from Mr. Dainty. Time will tell, not that we have enough of it as far as orderly US cricket goes.
July 18, 2011
NWR wins the 2011 National U15 Tournament (Again)
NWR is making a strong claim to be called the cradle of US youth cricket. The NWR U15 team finished with a perfect 5-0 record beating the New York Region's U15 in a closely contested final. In the past year, the U17 team from CCA (which is in the NWR) easily won the National Invitational and the NWR U19 is arguably the best regional side having beaten all the teams in the Western Conference Tournament and then beating SER and SWR in the curtailed National U19 Tournament in December 2010. In this context, it is remarkable that USACA continues to not recognize the strength of this region by routinely ignoring its proven talent. This needs to change for the sake of US youth cricket for the bias is clear as daylight.
July 14, 2011
Rocky Road for the US to the 2011 U19 ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Ireland
July 14, 2011
For the first time, USA U19s batted first after winning the toss and in what can be called in improvement over the first two matches, they built their total to 133 in the fourth and final match against the West Indies U19 team. There were a couple of partnerships for the US team but many batsmen did perish of their own doing. There was a paucity of singles and twos and a penchant to go for big shots. The West Indians made very quick work of the total as if they had an afternoon appointment. Opener John Campbell slashed, slammed and pulled his way to a 100 of just 69 balls against insipid bowling by the US, particularly and worryingly by the pacers. Despite not being in the twelve for the match, the mystery keeper, Chris van Tull, played in the match while Steven Taylor, the regular keeper, tried some spin. Of course, US administration has said nothing of all this -- van Tull is not even in the probables but may well find his way into the 14 ahead of more deserving players. One thing we can say about US cricket -- we start young -- with the politics, that is.
The US boys have two weeks to get ready for Ireland. First and foremost, they need to really improve their catching and fielding. They need to bowl consistent lines and length instead of going for pace or trying random variations as spinners. They need to take all the singles and twos on offer and wait for loose deliveries to dispose for boundaries instead of taking unnecessary chances or get bogged down. If they do the basic things right, they will perform creditably in Ireland.
July 12, 2011
A better performance by the US team in its third match although the West Indian team's batting improved as well. The net-net was a 220 run victory for the West Indian U19 who were put into bat and had two centurions in Campbell and Mayers. US's Prashanth Nair who took 5 wickets for 57 from 9 overs was the standout bowler. The US batting which began circumspectly (for a change) got to its highest total in this series of 101 for 5 in the allotted 42 overs (D-L reduction due to rain). Cameron Mirza played a steady innings of 34 with the first wicket partnership of 29 with Taylor being the largest of the innings. Clearly, the US is out of its depth against the West Indian side but they can take heart from their improved performance in all three aspects of the match, thanks to Coach Robin Singh in no small measure.
The conduct of the US cricket administration got worse, if that can be believed. They introduced a hitherto-unknown keeper -- not in the 14, not even in the reserves and never has been to trials. They also brought in Kalim Ahmed, who is a reserve, into the match after saying just yesterday that there will not be any changes to the squad. So much for that. The West Indian team management did appear to question how non-squad members can be randomly inserted onto the field of play but they chose not to sustain a protest. Perhaps, they have now realized that US cricket is devoid of anything resembling due process and proper etiquette.
What is very apparent is that USACA does not seem to bother with how others (in and out of the US) perceive them as long as they get to do what they want. There is no one to hold them accountable -- they know that, we know that. If any of you feel aggrieved (and many do), I suggest you email to enquiry@icc-cricket.com with your feedback on the state of US cricket. It cannot hurt when ICC sees multitude of emails from US rank-and-file cricket enthusiasts.
July 11, 2011
Never an off day when USACA politics is in full swing! Two extraordinary decisions (both from the very top) -- one was to replace an already selected US T20 player (Nauman Mustafa from NWR) with another who should have been selected in the first place (Sushil Nadkarni of CWR) and the second was to invite a seemingly random assortment of U19 players (mostly from Washington DC and South Florida) to the "training camp" alongside the U19s. Manaf Mohammed, USACA's operations chief ominously added "the squad remains the same for now."
One has to feel terrible for Nauman who did nothing wrong and because he belonged to an anti-Dainty region, he was seen as expendable. What is worse is that such actions are par for the course in the US -- a few will bark but there is never any bite.
As for the additional invitees for the U19 camp, it makes no sense given that only one of them appears to be from the reserves. It almost has to be a quid pro quo between USACA and a region or two, the details of which we can only speculate. It would not be surprising if one or two of the current "expendable" players in the squad are excused and replaced with the "trainees."
What is surprising is why someone like Coach Robin Singh would put up with such zaniness in the midst of a serious training camp that he has promised. How he reacts and what he does will tell us a lot about his character.
July 10, 2011
Things got from quite bad to much worse in the second match as the West Indians piled up 339 runs in the allotted 50 overs with opener John Campbell scoring a seven-life unbeaten century. The US could only manage 71 runs in return with extras top scoring and no batsman even making into double figures. It does appear that this team is disoriented technically, mentally and physically. Coach Robin Singh, who joined the team today, did seem to take this performance in stride in his post-match comments but he has quite a few holes to plug and plug quickly and effectively. The next match is scheduled for Tuesday and a day's gap can only come as a welcome one for the US team and its coach as they scramble to look like a cricket team that can qualify for the 2012 edition of the U19 Cricket World Cup. As of now, they look like pretenders.
July 9, 2011
The West Indies U19 overwhelmed the US U19 in the first match winning by a whopping 215 runs. Areas of real concern from this match for the US are the poor catching and fielding and the very brittle batting display. Bowling was quite good by the front-line bowlers despite lack of catching support. While one does not expect the US U19 to consistently match up well against a member country's U19 side, there is room for lots of improvement in the next three matches.
July 8, 2011
Rain showers forecast for the entire week in Florida where the West Indies U19 play the US U19. Should anyone be surprised by this -- after all, this is the start of the hurricane season in that part of the world. But don't tell that to the organizers at USACA of such events. They seem to have a knack of picking the wrong place to have tournaments of late. Lets hope enough matches get played to completion.
Per Dreamcricket's Peter Della Penna, the weather at the stadium is very good but despite that the match got postponed (last night) to Saturday. Some disturbing points mentioned in Peter's article -- Greg Sewdial appears unfit (he is recovering from serious injuries) and he is the captain and main middle order batsman; Gurpreet Sandhu has not arrived and may not due to inability to enter the US on a valid visa; Masood Chik (Ex-CER-USACA-Rep) still involved with the team; Amarnath Persaud being trained to be a backup keeper as there are no real keepers except for Stephen Taylor.
For the first time, USA U19s batted first after winning the toss and in what can be called in improvement over the first two matches, they built their total to 133 in the fourth and final match against the West Indies U19 team. There were a couple of partnerships for the US team but many batsmen did perish of their own doing. There was a paucity of singles and twos and a penchant to go for big shots. The West Indians made very quick work of the total as if they had an afternoon appointment. Opener John Campbell slashed, slammed and pulled his way to a 100 of just 69 balls against insipid bowling by the US, particularly and worryingly by the pacers. Despite not being in the twelve for the match, the mystery keeper, Chris van Tull, played in the match while Steven Taylor, the regular keeper, tried some spin. Of course, US administration has said nothing of all this -- van Tull is not even in the probables but may well find his way into the 14 ahead of more deserving players. One thing we can say about US cricket -- we start young -- with the politics, that is.
The US boys have two weeks to get ready for Ireland. First and foremost, they need to really improve their catching and fielding. They need to bowl consistent lines and length instead of going for pace or trying random variations as spinners. They need to take all the singles and twos on offer and wait for loose deliveries to dispose for boundaries instead of taking unnecessary chances or get bogged down. If they do the basic things right, they will perform creditably in Ireland.
July 12, 2011
A better performance by the US team in its third match although the West Indian team's batting improved as well. The net-net was a 220 run victory for the West Indian U19 who were put into bat and had two centurions in Campbell and Mayers. US's Prashanth Nair who took 5 wickets for 57 from 9 overs was the standout bowler. The US batting which began circumspectly (for a change) got to its highest total in this series of 101 for 5 in the allotted 42 overs (D-L reduction due to rain). Cameron Mirza played a steady innings of 34 with the first wicket partnership of 29 with Taylor being the largest of the innings. Clearly, the US is out of its depth against the West Indian side but they can take heart from their improved performance in all three aspects of the match, thanks to Coach Robin Singh in no small measure.
The conduct of the US cricket administration got worse, if that can be believed. They introduced a hitherto-unknown keeper -- not in the 14, not even in the reserves and never has been to trials. They also brought in Kalim Ahmed, who is a reserve, into the match after saying just yesterday that there will not be any changes to the squad. So much for that. The West Indian team management did appear to question how non-squad members can be randomly inserted onto the field of play but they chose not to sustain a protest. Perhaps, they have now realized that US cricket is devoid of anything resembling due process and proper etiquette.
What is very apparent is that USACA does not seem to bother with how others (in and out of the US) perceive them as long as they get to do what they want. There is no one to hold them accountable -- they know that, we know that. If any of you feel aggrieved (and many do), I suggest you email to enquiry@icc-cricket.com with your feedback on the state of US cricket. It cannot hurt when ICC sees multitude of emails from US rank-and-file cricket enthusiasts.
July 11, 2011
Never an off day when USACA politics is in full swing! Two extraordinary decisions (both from the very top) -- one was to replace an already selected US T20 player (Nauman Mustafa from NWR) with another who should have been selected in the first place (Sushil Nadkarni of CWR) and the second was to invite a seemingly random assortment of U19 players (mostly from Washington DC and South Florida) to the "training camp" alongside the U19s. Manaf Mohammed, USACA's operations chief ominously added "the squad remains the same for now."
One has to feel terrible for Nauman who did nothing wrong and because he belonged to an anti-Dainty region, he was seen as expendable. What is worse is that such actions are par for the course in the US -- a few will bark but there is never any bite.
As for the additional invitees for the U19 camp, it makes no sense given that only one of them appears to be from the reserves. It almost has to be a quid pro quo between USACA and a region or two, the details of which we can only speculate. It would not be surprising if one or two of the current "expendable" players in the squad are excused and replaced with the "trainees."
What is surprising is why someone like Coach Robin Singh would put up with such zaniness in the midst of a serious training camp that he has promised. How he reacts and what he does will tell us a lot about his character.
July 10, 2011
Things got from quite bad to much worse in the second match as the West Indians piled up 339 runs in the allotted 50 overs with opener John Campbell scoring a seven-life unbeaten century. The US could only manage 71 runs in return with extras top scoring and no batsman even making into double figures. It does appear that this team is disoriented technically, mentally and physically. Coach Robin Singh, who joined the team today, did seem to take this performance in stride in his post-match comments but he has quite a few holes to plug and plug quickly and effectively. The next match is scheduled for Tuesday and a day's gap can only come as a welcome one for the US team and its coach as they scramble to look like a cricket team that can qualify for the 2012 edition of the U19 Cricket World Cup. As of now, they look like pretenders.
July 9, 2011
The West Indies U19 overwhelmed the US U19 in the first match winning by a whopping 215 runs. Areas of real concern from this match for the US are the poor catching and fielding and the very brittle batting display. Bowling was quite good by the front-line bowlers despite lack of catching support. While one does not expect the US U19 to consistently match up well against a member country's U19 side, there is room for lots of improvement in the next three matches.
July 8, 2011
Rain showers forecast for the entire week in Florida where the West Indies U19 play the US U19. Should anyone be surprised by this -- after all, this is the start of the hurricane season in that part of the world. But don't tell that to the organizers at USACA of such events. They seem to have a knack of picking the wrong place to have tournaments of late. Lets hope enough matches get played to completion.
Per Dreamcricket's Peter Della Penna, the weather at the stadium is very good but despite that the match got postponed (last night) to Saturday. Some disturbing points mentioned in Peter's article -- Greg Sewdial appears unfit (he is recovering from serious injuries) and he is the captain and main middle order batsman; Gurpreet Sandhu has not arrived and may not due to inability to enter the US on a valid visa; Masood Chik (Ex-CER-USACA-Rep) still involved with the team; Amarnath Persaud being trained to be a backup keeper as there are no real keepers except for Stephen Taylor.
July 6, 2011
Time for the US National Cricket Teams to Play and Play Well
July 6, 2011
The selections for the US T20 senior side and U19 side are done and dusted. They have been critiqued here and elsewhere. There have been some shocking exclusions and a few strange inclusions, with a lot of speculations on the reasons behind these. But there are also many deserving players who have been selected, presumably on merit but one can never tell as little is known on how selections work and how selectors think.
Much is at stake as the US senior and junior sides get ready to participate in international tournaments in July and August. For the senior side, the goal is to finish in the top two to qualify for further T20 competition leading to the T20 CWC in 2012. For the U19 side, the goal is to finish in the top six of the ten teams that will compete so that they can qualify for the U19 CWC also in 2012. Neither of these goals should be considered gimmes.
In a few weeks, we will get a chance to reflect and analyze how these teams did and, in turn, how the coaches and selectors did. Until then, lets enjoy watching, hearing and reading about our national teams' performances and lets hope that their campaigns are successful.
The selections for the US T20 senior side and U19 side are done and dusted. They have been critiqued here and elsewhere. There have been some shocking exclusions and a few strange inclusions, with a lot of speculations on the reasons behind these. But there are also many deserving players who have been selected, presumably on merit but one can never tell as little is known on how selections work and how selectors think.
Much is at stake as the US senior and junior sides get ready to participate in international tournaments in July and August. For the senior side, the goal is to finish in the top two to qualify for further T20 competition leading to the T20 CWC in 2012. For the U19 side, the goal is to finish in the top six of the ten teams that will compete so that they can qualify for the U19 CWC also in 2012. Neither of these goals should be considered gimmes.
In a few weeks, we will get a chance to reflect and analyze how these teams did and, in turn, how the coaches and selectors did. Until then, lets enjoy watching, hearing and reading about our national teams' performances and lets hope that their campaigns are successful.
June 28, 2011
USA U19 Team for the ICC WC Global Qualifiers in Ireland
July 5, 2011
Not unsurprisingly, the pride of NY youth cricket, Greg Sewdial, has returned to claim his crown, the captaincy of the US U19 team. Move over Abhijit Joshi -- you only won 5 out of 5 matches as captain in the ICC Americas Tournament! There is now the added risk that Joshi may not make it to the playing XI if random acts of blindness continue, courtesy Sew and his wing men.
June 28, 2011
The New York region got three new players into the US 14 -- Greg Sewdial, Amarnauth Persaud, and Prashanth Nair made it in at the expense of Fahad Babar of CER (who withdrew), Kalim Ahmed and Waleed Karimullah of the Atlantic region. Greg Sewdial who did play in the 2010 U19 World Cup is coming back from serious injuries and his fitness levels have been a concern as well as his lack of match practice. Amarnauth Persaud is a bowling all-rounder and Prashanth Nair is a left arm spinner, both of whom did not shine in the Eastern Conference U19 matches in 2010. It does appear that the Kalim Ahmed has been dropped for no specific reason from the 14 just as his Atlantic region mate Waleed Karimullah didn't make the cut for the 18 even though he was never given a match.
The 14 sports multiple openers in Stephen Taylor, Cameron Mirza, Jodhbir Singh, Trevor Singh, Abhijit Joshi and Salman Ahmad, some of whom will surely be shifted to the middle order. Greg Sewdial and Pranay Suri are the only two true middle order batsmen. Pacers are Hamad Shahid, Salman Ahmad, Mittal Patel, and Amarnauth Persaud. Shayan Abdulgyani and Prashanth Nair are left arm off-spinners while Gurpreet Sandhu is a leg spinner. The only off-spinner (if they choose to use him as one) is Pranay Suri. There is no spare wicket keeper in the 14.
The matches against the West Indian U19 team starting in a couple of weeks will be a good test of how this team can stand up to quality opposition.
June 17, 2011
Realistically, USA's chances of finishing in the top six to qualify for 2012 U19 World Cup in Australia is not that great. It almost entirely depends on the one or two technically-strong batsmen that they have striking form and performing at a high level assuming their bowling clicks and fielding is upto snuff.
Not unsurprisingly, the pride of NY youth cricket, Greg Sewdial, has returned to claim his crown, the captaincy of the US U19 team. Move over Abhijit Joshi -- you only won 5 out of 5 matches as captain in the ICC Americas Tournament! There is now the added risk that Joshi may not make it to the playing XI if random acts of blindness continue, courtesy Sew and his wing men.
June 28, 2011
The New York region got three new players into the US 14 -- Greg Sewdial, Amarnauth Persaud, and Prashanth Nair made it in at the expense of Fahad Babar of CER (who withdrew), Kalim Ahmed and Waleed Karimullah of the Atlantic region. Greg Sewdial who did play in the 2010 U19 World Cup is coming back from serious injuries and his fitness levels have been a concern as well as his lack of match practice. Amarnauth Persaud is a bowling all-rounder and Prashanth Nair is a left arm spinner, both of whom did not shine in the Eastern Conference U19 matches in 2010. It does appear that the Kalim Ahmed has been dropped for no specific reason from the 14 just as his Atlantic region mate Waleed Karimullah didn't make the cut for the 18 even though he was never given a match.
The 14 sports multiple openers in Stephen Taylor, Cameron Mirza, Jodhbir Singh, Trevor Singh, Abhijit Joshi and Salman Ahmad, some of whom will surely be shifted to the middle order. Greg Sewdial and Pranay Suri are the only two true middle order batsmen. Pacers are Hamad Shahid, Salman Ahmad, Mittal Patel, and Amarnauth Persaud. Shayan Abdulgyani and Prashanth Nair are left arm off-spinners while Gurpreet Sandhu is a leg spinner. The only off-spinner (if they choose to use him as one) is Pranay Suri. There is no spare wicket keeper in the 14.
The matches against the West Indian U19 team starting in a couple of weeks will be a good test of how this team can stand up to quality opposition.
June 17, 2011
Surprise, surprise! The wise men of US Cricket, the selectors, Sew Shivnarine, Abrar Ahmed, and Sunny Khan decided on the following eighteen for the U19. (Hopefully, no one else participated as rumored.)
Shayan Abdul Ghani, Salman Ahmad. Kalim Ahmed, Sohaib Choudhry, Abhijit Joshi, Cameron Mirza, Prashant Nair, Prumjot Panesar, Mital Patel, Amarnauth Persaud, Gurpreet Sandhu, Gregory Raj Sewdial, Hammad Shahid, Trevor Singh, Jodhbir Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Pranay Suri and Steven Taylor.
So what we have is the same 14 as was selected for the ICC Americas tournament with Greg Sewdial coming in for Babar (who apparently made himself unavailable) and three bowlers and a keeper -- Sohaib Choudhry, Amarnauth Persaud, Jasdeep Singh (all bowlers) and Prumjot Panesar (who kept for NWR but is a lower-middle order batsman).
Several technically-strong batsmen (notably Akash Jagannathan and Krish Goel) in the group of 20 (and who happened to be in the reserves for the ICC Americas Tournament) despite their commendable performances in the U19 tournaments and camps were kept out for reasons only known to the selectors. This despite the well-established need for more batting in the team. One explanation that seems to make more and more sense is that Sew (the dominant selector as the other two are not as confident of their cricketing knowledge, I am told) is not keen on any batsman who is a grafter/anchor/accumulator. He likes the ones who can send the ball into orbit and if you look at the batsmen, there are none who will qualify as grafters/anchors/accumulators.
If you want to go by regional counts -- NER - 0, NY - 5, Atlantic - 4, SER- 1, CER - 2, CWR - 0, SWR - 3, NWR - 3. What stands out is that selector Shivnarine's region (NY) has five players who I would expect to make it into the 14.
As for competition at the qualifiers, Afghanistan and Nepal are expected to be quite strong along with Ireland and Scotland who will be experiencing home conditions for the most part. Canada will be stronger than the team at ICC Americas given that three of the U19s who were with the senior squad at the CWC in South Asia will be back. Not much is known about the remaining teams but Hong Kong has a good U19 setup and they can be expected to be competitive.
Realistically, USA's chances of finishing in the top six to qualify for 2012 U19 World Cup in Australia is not that great. It almost entirely depends on the one or two technically-strong batsmen that they have striking form and performing at a high level assuming their bowling clicks and fielding is upto snuff.
June 15, 2011
Approximately 20 U19 players from different parts of the country made their way to New York to go through a new set of USACA-sponsored trials to "fine tune" the U19 fourteen that finished first in the ICC Americas U19 event in Florida back in February 2011. The west coasters were made to take a red eye to get in early Saturday to some wet weather but the weather got better on Sunday so some assessment was possible although clearly not ideal.
From the February ICC Americas tournament, it has been a consensus view among keen observers of youth cricket around the country that what the team lacks is batting depth as it moves to stiffer competition of the ICC Global Qualifiers. What the team can really use is some top/middle-order batting depth in exchange for the one or two extra bowlers they have. It can also use a reserve keeper-batsman given that the only keeper the team has, regularly opens the batting to try to give them a flying start.
The eighteen will be announced this week from which the fourteen will be announced by the end of June, apparently in consultation with coach Robin Singh who disappointingly was not at the trials. Lets hope that the selectors balance the side, keeping in mind the challenging batting conditions and much better competition they can fully expect to face in Ireland.
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