Status of USACA selectors in doubt

Just three days out from the USA Cricket Association National Tournament, no arrangements have been made for USACA's incumbent selection panel to come to the event in order to evaluate talent for the country's next international assignment in October - the ICC WCL Division Three in Uganda.

According to multiple sources, the five-man committee - Selwyn Caesar, Sunny Singh, Kuldeep Patel, Barney Jones and Dawood Ahmed - has been dissolved with Atlantic Region administrator Sheldon Mollineau set to become the new head of the selection committee. However, USACA has not made any formal announcement except for removing the names of the five men from its committees page on the organisation's web site. In a separate section of the website, however, the names of the five men are still listed.

"We have a meeting coming up this week on Saturday so after that we'll know," USACA executive secretary Mascelles Bailey told ESPNcricinfo on Monday. When asked why selectors would not be appointed until after the USACA National Tournament ends on Saturday, instead of before the event begins on Thursday, Bailey said he had no further comment to make.

Caesar, who has served as USACA's chairman of selectors since 2011, told ESPNCricinfo by email that he had submitted his resignation to USACA last month but had not received any acknowledgement. "I had disagreements with the USACA administration related to policy and functional operations of the selection committee and submitted my resignation to USACA," Caesar wrote.

Other members of the selection committee told ESPNcricinfo they had heard there might be a new committee chosen by August 5 and some members may be retained. As of Monday, though, they were still in the dark regarding their current status. USACA had not made any contact with them in order to invite them to the tournament in Florida from August 14-16.

"They have not told us anything about whether we are traveling or not," said one member of the committee. "I've experienced this in the past also so this is nothing new for me. If you're going to ask me if I'm surprised, no I'm not surprised. I was supposed to travel one time before when [former chief executive] Darren Beazley was there and the same thing happened. I was supposed to go for some trials last year and they told me the day before that I would not be traveling because there are no funds available. So it doesn't surprise me."

"Anybody who is in our position should know well in advance. We have our businesses, jobs and family life. We can't just pick up and go at the last second and drop everything we're doing. But that has never been the case. Every time everything is always on a last-minute basis. It comes to the same thing. Whenever we talk [to USACA], it's 'We're waiting for some funds to come in.'"

ESPNcricinfo also learned that many first-choice players from the eight regional teams were forced to withdraw from selection after initially being picked for the national tournament due to high costs associated with traveling on short notice to Florida and needing to cover the costs personally. USACA delayed the announcement of finalised tournament rosters for the eight-team event until late Friday night, just six days before the first matches will be played at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill. The event will kick off at 2pm on Thursday with six matches taking place on day one.