News

Glimmer of light as factions unite in US

The long-awaited board meeting of the USA Cricket Association took place at the weekend and, to the amazement of many who have followed the wrangles of the last year, it appears that real progress was made

Cricinfo staff

The long-awaited board meeting of the USA Cricket Association took place at the weekend and, to the amazement of many who have followed the wrangles of the last year, it appears that real progress was made.

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Sources indicate that Gladstone Dainty, the USACA president, relented on many key issues, and in fact voted against his own supporters on a number of contentious points. As a result, the meeting was described as "unexpectedly harmonious", leading many participants to believe that a corner had at last been turned.

Among the items discussed at the meeting, the board decided that:

  • "Conflict of interest" rules would be fully enforced, ie board and executive members could no longer serve as administrators, selectors or players on USA teams

  • A committee would be set up to undertake a thorough revision of the USACA constitution

  • Arrangements for the Under-19 team preparations were worked out after some hard bargaining, and the U-19 National Tournament was postponed and shifted to Los Angeles, probably to be held in late November or early December

  • The board issued a near-unanimous call for another Extraordinary General Meeting (under the USACA constitution, a majority of the board can call such a meeting at 40 days' notice)

  • With regard to the 2005 election disputes, it was decided to start with a clean slate and hold fresh elections in June 2006

  • It was agreed that board meetings would be held every month, and detailed reports and minutes of all such meetings would be published on the USACA website

  • As a gesture of good faith, both sides decided to drop all lawsuits against each other, and said they would inform ICC of their actions in reconciling their opposite viewpoints.

    • The contract issues regarding ProCricket and Gary Hopkins, and negotiating with MLC, could not be discussed because of lack of time, but will be raised at a later date. Participants at the meeting felt that USACA needed to get its own house in order before dealing with external issues like these, and the prospects of any ODI's being staged in the USA in the next year were sufficiently remote to put these contract issues on the back burner for now.

    The outcome is a welcome boost for cricket, and the news that Dainty had agreed to fresh elections was perhaps the biggest breakthrough.

    This agreement - assuming that it holds, and given the recent bitterness and acrimony inside US cricket, that is not by any means a given - should open the door to the ICC resuming funding to the USACA. The continuing presence of Dainty, whose conduct has seriously upset many senior ICC officials, might be an obstacle assuming that he wishes to retain control of the USACA after the elections.

    It seems likely that the ICC will hold fire until the EGM takes place and wait to see if the new spirit of goodwill and co-operation survives that.

    United States of America