US Academy side aim for Caribbean success

The USA Cricket Academy of New Jersey, which in 2003 won the ICC's award as the best junior cricket development program in the world, is set to repeat its successes last year on another trip to the Caribbean.

Earlier this year, the USA Cricket Academy won three consecutive games at the British Gas Under-17 Tournament in Trinidad, and finished the tournament on a winning note with another crushing win, ending with four wins and one loss as one of the best teams in the tournament.

This time, it will be traveling to Barbados to participate in the Sir Garfield Sobers Cricket Tournament to be held from July 9 through to July 24. Teams from all over the world are expected to participate in this tournament such as New Zealand, Australia, India, and the Caribbean countries--these are sides representing schools, regions and sponsors from the various countries, rather than official U-19 teams from ICC member nations. The tournament, which is in its 16th year, was won in 2003 by Australia who defeated India and a Combined West Indies team in the semi-finals and final. This will be the first year that the USA will be represented in the tournament.

Drawing on the experience of past Academy tours, a team has been selected which probably represents the best junior talent currently available in the USA. Captained by Anil Deopersaud (Florida), the team consists of Anveet Patel (New Jersey) as vice-captain, Megh Bhatt, Dhiren Patel, Yuvraj Sharma, and Romero Dean (New Jersey), Roopchand Seebaran and Andre Kirton (New York), Abhimanyu Rajp, Nadir Malik and Mohammed Usman (California), Keenan Fish (Colorado), Musaab Khan (Pennsylvania) and Faizan Sayeed (Georgia). The team is managed by Chi rag Patel, with Sheldon Gomes as coach and Garcia Gerald as Physic and Trainer. Ashok Patel, the President of the USA Cricket Academy, will be accompanying the side. Most of these players have performed successfully for the Cricket Academy at various junior levels for the past few years, and show promise for repeating their achievements at the U-19 level.

The USA Cricket Academy has come in for its share of criticism in the past for the way it has managed and conducted its overseas tours. Basically, each Academy tour is run as a self-financing project, with players (i.e. their parents) paying their own way, and the Academy trying to minimize overall costs by making group travel and accommodation arrangements and finding local hosts and catering facilities. A few disgruntled parents have complained of inadequate facilities, high-handed team management and other organizational problems. These complaints, however, have been few and far between; some of them, no doubt, tinged with a dose of envy at the Cricket Academy for pulling off tour after tour while the USACA was unable to organize any international matches without support by the ICC.

As they say, nothing succeeds like success. ICC's recognition of the USA Cricket Academy as the best junior development program in the world silenced many of its critics, though some carping still continues. Perhaps, after Barbados, there will be even less of that sort of snide criticism, although that may be too much to hope for.