USA players soaking up time with All-Stars

Amid the fanfare of the Cricket All-Stars tour, virtually all of the attention has been placed on the legends taking the field on game-day, but the series has also given several USA players the opportunity to be a part of the festivities as net bowlers, while a select few have been chosen as "12th man".

Former USA captain Steve Massiah, current USA captain Muhammad Ghous and team-mates Alex Amsterdam, Adil Bhatti and Akeem Dodson were all in the dugout for Saturday's first game, and got a chance to mingle with the All-Stars.

While Shane Warne said prior to landing in New York that he was hoping this tour would inspire the first American cricketer to learn the game, the All-Stars have discovered that plenty already exist. During an indoor net session in New Jersey on November 3, USA Under-19 player Vivek Narayan, born in Connecticut and raised in New Jersey, caught Warne's eye. As Sachin Tendulkar was batting, Narayan bowled a controlled series of balls to the Little Master while Warne enthusiastically shouted from the opposite end, "That's an American, an American leggie!"

A mostly new crop of players came to Minute Maid Park in Houston to bowl to the legends on Tuesday. Many are local to Texas but a few traveled quite a distance to make it, like USA allrounder Japen Patel who made a journey of 800 miles [1200kms] from Atlanta.

A rare few have had the chance to bowl throughout the last week at the stars. Fast bowler Jasdeep Singh, who made his USA debut in May, was one of the first to interact with the All-Stars on tour. Jasdeep, 22, bowled at the indoor session in New Jersey before serving as a net bowler on the eve of the first match at Citi Field.

Jasdeep's sessions were so positive that he didn't want New York to be the last one. He flew to Houston to continue training alongside the All-Stars, calling it "a lifetime experience", which has given him a rare opportunity to not just bowl at but talk with the stars and pick their brains.

"I had a good 10-15 minute talk with Sachin in New Jersey," Jasdeep said. "I got great feedback and some valuable tips from him. As I was bowling to him, he was noticing what I was doing every single ball. Every time I did something different, he would point it out. I've never heard any other batsman tell me they saw that I was trying something different. So that was a valuable tip - whenever you change something, try not to give signals to the batsman that it's going to be a different delivery.

"I had a good 10-15 minute talk with Curtly Ambrose. I got to ask him questions on fitness. Courtney Walsh, obviously he's looking after me because I had a good session with him in Indianapolis [at the ICC Combine in September]. Today he was checking me out to see if I had worked on the things that he taught me. It's been pretty good."

The interactions have also served to show some of the All-Stars the vast talent toiling away in the USA, waiting to be noticed. Matthew Hayden, who was part of the Australia team that walloped an ageing USA team at the Champions Trophy in 2004 says the players he's come across on this tour, like Jasdeep, have caught his eye.

"Jessy would walk into a first-grade side in our domestic competition," Hayden said. "I'm in Brisbane and he'd walk into a first-grade team there for sure. So that's the sort of caliber of player you're dealing with, the athletic ability that he has. It's just a matter of spending those years as I did, spending years of playing and playing to get to understand the game.

"Jessy, I spent a bit of time with in the nets over the last little bit. He's a fine player. He bowls a pretty heavy ball. It's just experience and it's experience having someone like Courtney Walsh or Curtly Ambrose talking to him about, 'Your length is this' or as an opening batsman saying 'Jess, the higher up you get, you know that if you bowl short you're going to get murdered or if you bowl on the pads, that's easy pickings for us. So get your line to fourth stump.' Those are simple coaching things but it's good for those guys to hear it."

Jasdeep has also started to get noticed by autograph hunters, who have run up to him with pen and pad just like the touring stars. A note posted on Facebook last week told the story of a young boy who attended the All-Stars clinic at Citi Field in New York. When asked by his mother who is favourite player during the interaction was, he responded by saying "Jessy Singh."

Jasdeep says he has been humbled by his newfound support and is grateful for the opportunities that he and his team-mates have had over the last week to showcase their skills.

"It's definitely something I never expected," Jasdeep said. "When I saw that post on social media I was quite surprised by that but it's motivational for me to work hard and get better. I can see kids are looking up to me, to follow me so it motivates me to work harder.

"What the legends are doing to bring cricket to the USA, we can do nothing but appreciate it. It's a great step to promote cricket in the USA. I think they are noticing the youngsters and watching closely. Hopefully most of us young players in the future will gain some better opportunities after bowling to these legends."