United States secretary, Atul Rai, talks to 'Beyond The Test World'
(1) The new administation has just had almost six months in the job
Tony Munro
27-Mar-2000
(1) The new administation has just had almost six months in the job. Has the perception of what is needed to get things right been changed at all?
In a way, yes, because the new administration was unaware of the magnitude of the financial problems facing the USACA until after Oct.1st,1999, when we assumed office. But the goals and objectives are still the same and the resolve is even greater now to overcome the hurdles and to place American cricket on the right track.
(2) How long will it take for the current administration to overcome the financial situation left by the previous one?
It is difficult to say how long it might take to remedy this situation, but we are confident that with collective effort, some hard work and a little bit of patience, we will be able to get back on track in a year or two. Of course, we certainly hope that the international cricketing community and the ICC will help us in the endeavor.
(3) What plans does the USACA have to ensure that administatively it is wholly representative of cricket in all of the United States? To this end, how will the USACA utilise the regional structure?
Currently the existing set up has the country divided into nine regions and each region elects a regional representative to the board of directors of USACA. Also, the Chairman of league presidents council (comprising of all the cricket leagues in the country, which number about 30) is also a director of the board. As per the present constitution, full membership of USACA is only open to cricket clubs that are members of recognized leagues in the country. There is a provision in the Constitution to recognize non-aligned clubs (cricket clubs that do not belong to any leagues or those that are in certain areas of the country where there are no cricket leagues), but this has not been explored in the past. The motto of the present administration is to be inclusive and not be exclusive, and with that in mind every effort will be made to make the association representative of all forms of cricket, throughout America. We are in the process of appointing a person to oversee the development of cricket in colleges and Universities across the country. Already there is a junior cricket development program that has been established in California about 2 years ago, to promote cricket in the schools and hopefully soon, with some help from the development committee of the ICC, we will be able to make this a national program.
(4) How will the USACA ensure the national team is truly representative?
The present regional structure, even with its flaws, is still a huge improvement over the previous one. Let us face it; there is no perfect system in the world. There is always room for change as needed. We hope and we believe that the regional directors and the league presidents will act according to their conscience while picking regional teams for the national trials and that the national selectors will do a fair and honest job and consider the players for the USA team purely based on their abilities, irrespective of their regional affiliation.
(5) Will a proper inter-league structure be established?
Even though we are anxious to set up a national inter-league structure, the current financial situation may not allow us to establish one immediately. But we are hopeful that eventually we will be able to get there.
(6) Funding is a major problem for the USACA. People have suggested to me that a levy of say $10-15 be placed on players each year. Is this practical?
The idea was discussed at the last board meeting of USACA and, even though it seemed logical, it was not practical to implement it at this time. We will certainly explore such an idea in the future.
(7) What is the biggest hurdle in enticing Americans to play cricket?
In the past, the one single factor that has prevented Americans from taking to the sport has been the fact the game was too lengthy. Also cricket was considered to be too aristocratic by most Americans. With the advent of the limited overs version of the game & the publicity brought by the television media, there is a renewed hope that the American public will be more excited about the game of cricket.
(8) Is there a problem with some club and league officials either knowingly or unknowingly wanting to keep cricket as an expatriate past-time?
I think it is a combination of things that made cricket remain more of an expatriate sport in America in the past. Lack of initiative on the part of the previous administration to promote the game at the grass roots level, reluctance on the part of the American public to embrace the game readily and to some extent the apathy of the league officials, may have all contributed to this unfortunate state of affairs in the past.
(9) For the USACA to be truly national organisation a lot will depend on the Regional Directors. How often does the Executive consult the Regional Directors?
Because of the vastness of the country geographically, we have had to rely on regular (snail) mail & telephone conference calls to communicate and consult with the regional directors in the past. Also these conference calls were fairly expensive to set up and the time difference between the east & west coast of the US being considerable, these conference calls did not occur often enough. Today, the internet and the electronic media have made it far more simpler and cheaper to communicate and we are hoping to capitalize on the easy availability of this medium to organize and communicate effectively in the 21st century.