Staple: 'We need to showcase our talents'

Richard Staple: 'The folks back home are getting interested' © Getty Images

It was a much-improved performance against Bermuda, but Canada are still the favourites to qualify from our group, after they beat us earlier in the year. In many people's eyes, USA v Canada is the world's oldest cricket international, and so we were all well aware of the historical significance of the match. The PA system announced details, and there were books and pamphlets available to the crowd.

And it was a good crowd too, perhaps some 2000 people turned out for the second day's play. Until John Davison's intervention [he took 17 wickets in the match], it had been an evenly balanced contest, but on the third day the game finished early, so we held a 25-over match to keep the spectators happy.

Cricket is slowly catching on in USA, ever since our success in the competition in Sharjah, there has been an increased publicity, and the folks back home are getting interested. Of course, it's the one-day format that has more chance of success over here, and in Florida especially, there is a tremendous potential. New York and California have high levels of competitors as well, but unfortunately there aren't many more centres where cricket has caught on.

There's not a huge amount of homegrown talent just yet either. Currently there are two American-born Caucasians in the squad, with the rest of Asian or Caribbean heritage, but the local politicians are very, very keen on developing the game further. In that respect, it was a huge blow that we missed out on hosting a match in the 2007 World Cup. We had all been anticipating a fixture, and though we're disappointed, it won't halt the process.

And so our preparations have taken us to a training camp in Bermuda, and onto the Americas Cup, where we did pretty well, although unfortunately we lost to Canada again, which is becoming a bit of a habit! But all this is standing us in good stead ahead of the Champions' Trophy in England in September. Victory is improbable over there, but our aim is simply to expose the level of cricket that we are capable of attaining. It's not just another fixture for us - we have to be positive, and take away good memories of the tournament.

Our Canadian nemesis, Davison, has played first-class cricket in Australia, so he is a bit of a taste of what we can expect against Australia and New Zealand in that tournament! We simply have to learn from his example - his professionalism was apparent in every facet of his game, especially when he won the match for them in Bermuda, despite suffering from a nasty stomach virus.

The Pro Cricket 20-over competition has apparently begun reasonably successfully. It's been decided that USA players cannot take part, which is a shame, but let's hope the competition gets ICC and USACA recognition, and we can all take it on from there.

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