A tale of two cities?

In another bizarre twist to the US cricket saga, meetings called by the two organisations claiming to represent US cricket - Gladstone Dainty's "official" USACA Board, and the extraordinary general meeting of the USA Cricket Association called by the USA Council of League Presidents and the so-called "dissidents" - will be held at the same time, in the airport hotels of two cities close to each other, New Jersey and New York.

The EGM has been scheduled for several months, and has been the topic of discussion on the internet as well as in Cricinfo's recent interview with Gladstone Dainty. Dainty's announcement of a board meeting was made last week, and it is a fair bet that the date of the EGM was known in advance.

Both meetings are intended to deal with important issues in US cricket. The EGM will be considering constitutional amendments for the USACA which would, if implemented, signal a fundamental reform of USACA's "system of governance" and set standards of accountability for its executive and other officers. This is an aspect that has come in for severe criticism from the ICC.

Dainty's meeting, on the other hand, has a somewhat more modest purpose. It is intended to make appointments of the USACA executive for the 2005-06 season, meaning that the "new" officers would have two years before they would need to be reappointed by the Association.

Unlike previous elections of the USACA executive, there have been no listings of the candidates who have applied for the various positions, let alone their credentials and qualifications. In the past, the announcement of candidacies had led to lively and animated discussions of their merits, and in fact Dainty himself was elected USACA president following just such a discussion.

The absence of any such announcements this time is leading opponents to believe that these so-called elections are meant to be a rubber-stamp to help Dainty and his group retain control of the USACA's administrative process for another two years, thwarting the efforts of reformers to bring about changes in the USACA. On the other hand, the EGM is drawing a lot more interest and attention across the country, and (if successful) could make a significant difference to the US cricket landscape.