Dainty says USA too busy to have domestic events

Gladstone Dainty, president of the USA Cricket Association, has said the reason USACA was unable to hold a domestic national tournament for the last three years was because the organisation has "been busy participating in ICC events".

Prior to this weekend's USACA T20 National Championship, there had not been a national domestic championship at the men's level since June 2011 in New Jersey. USACA has also not been able to organise a women's national event since July 2011 while junior tournaments also experienced a three-year gap until an under-15 National Championship was held in California in June. An under-17 national tournament which was due to be held at the AAU Junior Olympics last month in Iowa was canceled by the Amateur Athletic Union after no players or teams registered.

Speaking at the final presentation of the USACA T20 National Championship, Dainty also commented on the rain that affected play over the course of the weekend, that allowed for only three full games. He said the tournament couldn't be held in Indianapolis because "a lot of things conspired against us". The City of Indianapolis sent USACA a termination letter in May to end their three-year hosting agreement for the national championship, claiming the board's failure to communicate with the city after the resignation by Darren Beazley as USACA chief executive.

The USACA president also commended the players for paying out of their pockets to attend the rain-marred tournament and stated that USACA was able to raise $35,000 to stage the tournament thanks to a pair of sponsors, including title sponsor FutureTech. The presentation was attended by ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Ben Kavanagh as well as West Indies Cricket Board vice-president Emmanuel Nathan and former West Indies Test player Lawrence Rowe.

The only teams present at the awards presentation were the two participants in the tournament final, South East and New York. The other six teams who traveled to the tournament were not present for the awards ceremony after half the teams left the ground in a player walkout following USACA's decision to wipe out the semi-finals over the threat of rain.