Ever since the parent body, the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), got suspended last year, a number of stakeholders have come to the fore to contribute to the development and progression of the game of cricket in the USA.
The information, gathered from the stakeholders in this regard, indicates that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had a clear-cut vision about the way forward.
Well placed sources, privy to the development, said that the foremost aim of the ICC was to streamline the cricketing affairs in the USA. “Wholehearted efforts are afoot to streamline the cricketing affairs in the USA both technically and administratively”, sources said
It was decided at the last ICC annual meeting at the Edinburg, that the ICC team, including Dave Cameron, Giles Clarke, Imran Khawaja and David Peever would soon visit the USA to meet with various stakeholders.
“The ICC is looking forward to assisting them in the development of the sport both at the grass root and international level. A formidable foundation is required for which an appropriate governance structure is imperative which can unite the entire cricket community in the USA”, sources added
Since the next ICC board meeting is scheduled to take place in South Africa in October therefore it is expected that the ICC delegation would visit the USA prior to the South Africa conference.
In June last year, the ICC Board, exercising its power under Article 2.7 of the ICC’s Articles of Association, unanimously decided to suspend the membership of the USACA.
The ICC board took the decision in view of the Review Group report, which expressed “significant concerns about the governance, finance, reputation and cricketing activities of USACA”.
This is pertinent to mention here that right after the suspension of the USACA, the ICC conducted a meeting, with stakeholders from the USA cricket community, in Chicago in August last year.
The meeting, hosted by ICC chief executive David Richardson and head of global development Tim Anderson, was attended by the representatives of various cricket leagues across the USA.
The ICC has already announced the World Cricket league Championship Division-4 in Los Angeles from October 29th to November 6th. Besides the USA, Bermuda, Denmark, Italy, Jersey and Oman will take part in the championship from which the top two teams will advance to Division-2 while couple of bottom ranked outfits will be relegated to Division-5.
“The upcoming few months are important for USA cricket”, sources concluded