KARACHI: The state the USA cricket association (USACA) is still suspended however the USACA official, after the ICC meeting, is hopeful that resolution would soon be reached.
The ICC annual conference in Edinburgh voted to ratify the USACA suspension for another one year. The USACA was suspended in June 2015.
Talking to scoreline.org from Edinburgh, one of the USACA directors, Akhtar Masood said that he informed the conference about the recent progress made by the USACA and the ICC is now ready to look into the matter afresh. “The ICC is sending a delegation to the USA, headed by its chairman, Shashank Manohar, along with a few ICC board members later this year to review the progress. During the tour, they will hold talks with all the stakeholders”, said Akthar Masood
Akthar Masood, a former Pakistan first-class cricketer, is settled in the USA for more than four decades and has been organizing cricketing activities in the country.
In November last year, the USACA, organized a couple of T20 cricket matches between the women teams of Pakistan and the USA at the Fort Lauderhill stadium in Florida.
The Florida cricket stadium is the only ICC accredited stadium in the USA and is also hosting a few matches of the Caribbean Premier League this season.
Akhtar Masood further said that he would brief his colleagues, at the USACA, upon his return. He also hinted at changing the strategy to get aligned with the ICC directives.”I will brief the USACA board upon my return. We might change gears to resolve the dispute as per the ICC constitution”, added Akhtar Masood
He does not rule out the possibility of hitting the legal course if required, however, emphasized that the negations were their priority. “The USACA wants negotiations in good faith to end the stalemate. A legal course is a distant option, but only after exhausting all the options”, concluded Akhtar Masood.
The next ICC board meeting takes place in South Africa in October and it is expected that the ICC delegation will visit the USA prior to the South Africa conference.
Meanwhile, during the ICC conference the chairman, Shahshank Manohar termed USA and Nepal important members of the ICC and vowed to continue the efforts to iron out the stumbling blocks.
“The ICC, as part of its game and market development strategy, will continue to provide the countries with as much support as possible so that they can put in place good governance and cricket structures”, said Shashank Manohar
The writer is a sports journalist in Pakistan & tweets @mak_asif