On the field, the team has had an encouraging build-up, trouncing Canada 4-0 and defeating Bangladesh 2-1 in bilateral T20 series.
Those results are astonishing considering USA had not played a T20 International since the World Cup qualifiers in July 2022. Since USA Cricket was admitted, the national men’s side has played just seven T20Is outside qualifying events. Since the start of 2022, they have played a total of twelve T20Is. By comparison, Nepal has played 36 in the same period.
Ali Khan and captain Monank Patel are among the standout players from the USA [Robert Cianflone/Getty Images via AFP]
Have things improved since the US was announced as the co-host?
The publicly available minutes of USAC board meetings show that off-field conflicts continue to boil over.
In the lead-up to the biggest cricket tournament ever held on US soil, there have been squabbles over the constitution, allegations of racial discrimination and disagreements on the process of choosing a new CEO.
A lawsuit filed by two directors against five fellow directors and a former CEO was dropped in 2022, but in 2023 another lawsuit was filed against USAC by former USA captain and league director Sushil Nadkarni.
At the most recent board meeting on March 27, Chair Venu Pisike “reaffirmed that board members MUST conduct themselves professionally and stop interrupting the board proceedings and being disrespectful to fellow board members”.
How might cricket grow after the T20 World Cup?
Amid concerns about USAC’s governance, the ICC is forging ahead with plans to create a lasting legacy from the T20 World Cup. Profits from the matches held in Nassau County (New York), Broward County (Florida) and Grand Prairie (Texas) will be funnelled into cricket’s growth in the US.
ICC’s game development programme, Playground to Podium, aims to reach one million children – half of them female – by the 2028 LA Olympics, and regional development manager for the Americas, Fara Gorsi, is confident of success.
“By the time we reach the LA Games it will be flourishing in all three cities as a minimum,” Gorsi told Al Jazeera. “And [it] will create a framework that will then be deployed across the states.
“If we want to see a different community grow cricket in the USA it has to come organically through schools, through new leaders, new communities, parents, teachers.”
Gorsi says the complexity of the US sporting system requires a targeted and flexible approach in each district as the ICC rolls out resources, initially in the three host cities, to develop facilitators and coaches via an entry-level training programme called Criiio. There are long-term plans to permeate the college system, a key for any sport in the US.
Parmanand Sarju, founder of the Long Island Youth Cricket Academy, instructs young cricket players during practice at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York [Phil Marcelo/AP]
Is there a way to improve the situation?
The ICC has expressed concerns to USAC and has given them a July deadline to appoint a CEO. They can apply sanctions of varying severity but pressure will also be applied by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
To become certified as cricket’s national governing body, USAC will have to meet USOPC’s rigorous criteria and standards.
As for the legacy programme, the ICC has not yet discussed a timeframe or mechanism for any possible future handover of the development programme and its funding to USA Cricket. Gorsi hopes it will eventually happen but admits there are significant barriers to overcome.
“Without wanting to sound disrespectful, they’ve held it on to like it’s their sport,” said Gorsi.
“If we grow it organically we’ll grow faster. We need to take the shackles off and allow it to be fun and have that accessibility across the country.
“Once we break some of those barriers down and allow the US audience to be part of this wonderful game that we all love, I think it will spread like wildfire.”
Source link : https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/sports/2024/6/1/icc-t20-world-cup-2024-will-cricket-finally-take-off-in-north-america-usa-vs-canada
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Publish date : 2024-06-01 07:16:37
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