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USACA forms governance implementation committee

The USA Cricket Association postponed any immediate action on remodeling its governance structure at last weekend's AGM and has instead opted to form a committee to review and explore the implementation of recommendations on governance from a report submi

The USA Cricket Association postponed any immediate action on remodeling its governance structure at last weekend's AGM and has instead opted to form a committee to review and explore the implementation of recommendations on governance from a report submitted earlier this year. USACA chief executive Darren Beazley had been pushing for changes to take place by the end of 2013, but a USACA press release stated that it might take till the summer of 2014 for any of the recommendations to be approved by the board and its members.
Beazley had spent much of the summer championing a number of recommendations from the governance review done by TSE Consulting, which was funded by a grant from the ICC. He visited administrative leaders around the country from the eight regions of the USACA in October and was joined for part of his tour by ICC global development manager Tim Anderson on a mission to convince stakeholders to support and approve the measures.
A key recommendation from the TSE report included changing the power structure of the USACA to reduce the size of the current USACA board, cut their power in half and give 50% of it to independent directors. Among the other recommendations were to establish term limits for board members, redefine membership categories and introduce athlete representation into the board.
However, rather than moving to take a vote to approve the measures at the USACA AGM on November 16 in Florida, the USACA press release issued late on November 22 said that a governance implementation committee will be formed to attempt to install the measures following up from the governance review committee which dealt with the TSE report prior to the AGM.
"The USACA governance review committee has worked hard over the past year," USACA president Gladstone Dainty said in the release. "We now have several recommendations and themes that will be invaluable in charting a new direction for cricket in this country which is a tremendous positive for the sport. The board of USACA is committed to evolve. We understand that in order for cricket to achieve its ambitious goals outlined in the USACA Strategic Plan 2014-16, the manner in which the game is administered must build on the strong foundation we have and step forward.
"Further, now is the time to form a governance implementation committee to take good governance practices and implement them at USACA. Some of the changes can be implemented by the board and others will require constitutional changes."
The dates for next year's USACA national championship were also finalised for August 21-24 at a new multi-million dollar turf-wicket facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. It will be the first USACA national tournament held since 2011.

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent. He tweets here