David Richardson hints at USACA's future

Following on from the ICC issuing a set of 39 terms and conditions that the USA Cricket Association must meet in order to be reinstated as an ICC Associate member, ICC chief executive David Richardson recently stated that the USACA may be "rebranded". It's another hint that USACA's time as the ICC's member governing body in the USA may be coming to an end, at least in its current form.

At a press gathering in Ireland during the World Twenty20 Qualifier, Richardson was asked if the ICC views the American Cricket Federation or some other third party group as a viable alternative to USACA in the event that the board is unable to fulfil the stringent reinstatement demands made by the ICC. His response indicated that the board may be reshaped, one way or another.

"The bottom line is we have to try to get all of the stakeholders together and take USA cricket forward from there," Richardson said. "Hopefully, USA Cricket Association in title may be rebranded. Who knows under a new strategy who will be the ones to do that but it will only be possible if they are able to unite the country from a cricket perspective."

The 39 terms and conditions include passing a new constitution with sweeping governance reforms recommended in a 2013 report by TSE Consulting as well as turning over numerous financial records and accounting documents. The USACA has shown reluctance to fulfil these in the past two years. Richardson was optimistic that they will work towards fulfilling the conditions but acknowledged the challenges the organisation would face in doing so.

"We are hopeful they will work with us," Richardson said. "I think on their own, they will find it difficult to meet all of those terms and conditions simply because in my view it's probably harder to run USA cricket than it is to run Indian cricket. It's such a vast country. There are so many leagues that are going on. Some are part of USACA, some part of other bodies, some on their own. It's going to take a major effort to bring them all together. I don't think the ICC could do it alone and USA cricket on its own will battle.

"Expulsion of the USA Cricket Association or US cricket will be no good to anybody. You only have to look at Ireland going back a number of years where they used to have a governance structure where all clubs were voting for their representatives on the board and were going really nowhere. The changes they implemented on the governance side were the catalyst for Ireland taking huge leaps forward as a cricketing nation. They've done it. There's no reason why USA can't do the same."

Under previous ICC suspensions handed down to USACA in 2005 and 2007, USA had their participation in the 2005 Intercontinental Cup and 2007 World Cricket League Division Three rescinded. As a consequence, USA dropped down to WCL Division Five when they were reinstated in 2008 and have found it difficult to climb back up the Associate ladder ever since. However, USA were allowed to play at the qualifier in Ireland in spite of the suspension and produced impressive wins over Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. Richardson reiterated the ICC's on-field support for USA.

"The idea is not to prejudice USA cricket in any way if at all possible," Richardson said. "So hopefully we can work with the USA Cricket Association in trying to remedy those resolutions and recommendations that were made to make sure that the suspension is lifted. There's a lot of work to be done in that regard but I'm confident that it can be done and the necessary governance changes can be made.

"But in the mean time, we don't want to prejudice cricketers who are playing cricket in the US. Ideally, we keep an eye on how the competition structures are run there, how the trials and teams are selected so that we give every chance for cricketers in the USA to go to these tournaments and hopefully qualify."

Aside from assisting the national team development with projects like the upcoming ICC Americas Cricket Combine next month in Indianapolis, Richardson once again highlighted the ICC's hopes of tapping into USA's commercial market potential if the administrative issues can be sorted out.

"There is enough potential for the USA to be participating at major global events," he said. "There's enough cricketers, there's enough money in the country and the economy is strong. So we think if correctly administered, there is the potential. It's not for other member countries to benefit financially from cricket being strong in the US.  Yes, the ICC might benefit from the fact that if USA is at a major global event, then we are hoping to attract sponsors from the part of the world of our events and obviously broadcasters as well."