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United States of America Cricket Association ARGENTINA wins by 7 wickets despite Afzaluddin's unbeaten century:: Bermuda destroys USA on third day::: 12-year-old Mumtaz in record performance for USA U-19s:::: USA defeats Cayman Islands, loses to Combined Affiliates, to finish 1-4--:::: Canada defeats Bermuda, wins ICC U-19 Qualifier :::: A Preliminary Analysis of the US U-19 Team The following USA team was announced for the Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Bermuda from August 3 to August 12, 2001.
from Southern California: from Northern California: from Central West Region: from New York: Manager - Denis McG. Stuart (LA) ; Coach - Sankar "Coach" Rampersad (NY);
Chairman of Selectors - Clifford S. Hinds (NY).
The selection of the Under-19 US Team was not without controversy. Judging by the tenor of postings in the Bulletin section of the USACA Web site, there was considerable irritation expressed about the lack of procedures for the selection of the team, the apparent over-representation of Pakistanis (or, persons with Pakistani/Muslim names) and the absence of other ethnic groups-- the lack of news about who constituted the selection committee and how the selections were made, also came in for criticism. This was finally corrected by Mr. Clifford Hinds, Chairman of the U-19 Selection Committee, who provided a succinct and clear summary of the selection process in the USACA Web site.
The SCHEDULE for the USA Team was originally announced as follows: August 2,3,4, Practice; August 5, vs. Argentina; August 6, vs. Bermuda; August 7, vs. Cayman Island ; August 8, Rest Day; August 9, vs. Canada; August 10, vs. Combined Affiliates (Bahamas, Belize and Panama); August 11, Final; August 12, Team Returns to the USA.
There must have been some changes in the schedule, because the USA's first match was against Canada instead of Argentina as had previously been announced. The Canadian youngsters were able to score 204 runs for 3 wickets (A.Nayth 67, Ashish Bagai 51*) before the match was abandoned due to rain, perhaps saving the USA some embarrassment from having to match such an imposing total.
The second match for the USA was also affected by rain, reducing it to a 32-over contest. Batting first against Argentina, the USA racked up runs at a 5-plus runs-per-over pace, with a sparkling unbeaten century from Aamer Afzaluddin, USA's left-handed opening batsman from the Central West Region. However, Argentina was able to match USA's scoring pace, and made the needed runs with four overs and seven wickets in hand, The scores were: USA 170/6 in 32 overs (A.Afzaluddin 111*; P.Ryan 3/27, M.Hemmingsen 3/33); Argentina 171/3 in 28 overs (P.Ferguson 66*)--RESULT: Argentina won by 7 wickets.
Meanwhile Canada, unable to complete its victory over the USA, also had its second game with Cayman Islands completely washed out, thus losing out on collecting a probable 8 victory points. Instead it was Bermuda, with a massive victory against Combined Affiliates, which ended the second day level with Argentina at the top of the rankings with one win and one inconclusive game (6 points) each.
The third day of the tournament saw USA's hopes vanish with a crushing defeat at the hands of Bermuda, possibly the strongest team in the U-19 Qualifier. Batting first in better weather than had been available for the tournament earlier, Bermuda went on a run-scoring spree. Scoring at better than seven runs per over, they amassed a staggering total of 382 for 8, with Outerbridge and Foggo, who had represented Bermuda in the ICC Trophy in Ontario a month earlier, both scoring centuries.
A great USA bowling performance--perhaps the single best bowling performance in the Tournament so far-- came from 12-year-old Shaham Mumtaz, born in Columbia, MO and living in St. Louis. Listed as a batsman from USA's Central West Region by the USACA but in fact a slow left-arm spinner, he took 5 wickets for 76 runs against the fast-scoring Bermuda team-- he is also probably the youngest player ever to have played in an under-19 ICC tournament.
When it came to USA's turn to bat, the team found itself facing an impossible challenge. They capitulated and collapsed in under 30 overs, with only A. Mehta (43), an all-rounder from Northern California, showing any resistance to the Bermudan onslaught. The scores were: Bermuda 382/8 (S.Outerbridge 101, C.Foggo 101; S.Mumtaz 5/76); USA 144 in 29.1 overs (A.Mehta 43; PJ Thomas 5/32)-- Bermuda won by 238 runs.
While the USA was going down to defeat, Canada defeated Argentina by 138 runs--- Canada 210/8 (G.Roberts 31; E.McDermott 3/41), - Argentina 74 in 21.2 overs (A.Casime 15; J.Roberts 7/20), and Cayman Islands defeated Combined Affiliates by 9 wickets--- Combined Affiliates 46 in 18.3 overs (S.Flowers 17; R.Ebanks 5/8); Cayman Islands 47/1 in 10.1 overs (G.Ebanks 19*), leaving Bermuda and Canada as the front-runners for the tournament with 10 and 6 points each, and with Argentina and Cayman Islands as possible contenders in the final stages of the tournament.
It was in its next-to-last match, against the Cayman Islands, that the USA achieved its first victory in the tournament. Batting first, USA scored 144 because of excellent batting by Afzaluddin (58), supported by Anish Mehta (19). Then, they were able to dipose of Cayman islands for only 80 runs, with Afzaluddin starring with the ball, and Hammad Haider (also from the Central West zone) lending support. Scores were: USA 144 all out.(Aamer Afzaluddin 58 (9x4), Anish Mehta 19, Omar Bryan 5/12, Abali Hoilett 3 /6); Cayman Islands 80 all out (Joseph Kirkconnell 36, Hammad Haider 4/23, Aamer Afzaluddin 3/12) RESULT: USA won by 64 runs.
The victory against Cayman Islands should have given the USA some confidence for their final match against Combined Affiliates, the weakest team in the tournament. (Several "Affiliated" contries had failed to send players, decimating the strength of the team-- and those who did make it had arrived with so little equipment that Bermudan cricket authorities had to scramble to provide minimum materials for the team.) Sadly, this was not to be. The USA was able to get the Affiliates out for 106, but then collapsed for 64 after being 45 for 1, with Ken Galver turning in a fine all-round performance for the Affiliates and Afzaluddin, by now the best player for the USA, doing likewise for the losing cause. SCORES: Combined Affiliates 106 all out (Ken Galver 36, Komal Ram Singh 3/7, Aamer Afzaluddin 2/15). USA 64 all out (Aamer Afzaluddin 32 (5x4), Ken Galver 4/12). RESULT: USA lost by 42 runs. The USA ended the tournament in the cellar, with Argentina and the Combined Affiliates both ranking above it because they had both defeated USA in their head-to-head matches.
The early report on Monday, August 13 was that Canada had defeated Bermuda to win the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifying Tournament by 37 runs. The SCORES:
Canada 185/9 [Total reduced to 178 - D/L] (A.Bagai 56; M.Crane 3/23); Bermuda 141 in 41.5 overs (D.Borden 36; N.Richards 5/34, C.Argunen 3/27). The Canada U-19's, therefore join their seniors in qualifying for their World Cup contest to be held next year--a unique record for Canada. Finally, the Cayman Islands pushed themselves up a notch in the rankings, relegating Argentina to the cellar--they won by 93 runs. SCORES: Cayman Islands 197/9 (J.Kirkconnell 84; P.Ryan 3/50); Argentina 104 in 31.2 overs (E.MacDermott 39; A.Wight 4/22).
The FINAL POINTS tally for the participating countries was as follows: Canada 5 matches , 3 wins , no losses, 2 draws-- 16 pts ; Bermuda 5 matches, 3 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw, 14 pts; Cayman Islands 5 matches, 2 wins, 1 loss, 2 draws , 12 pts; Argentina 5 matches, 1 win, 3 losses, 1 draw, 6 pts; Combined Affiliates 5 matches 1 win, 3 losses, 1 draw, 6 pts; and USA 5 matches, 1 win, 3 losses, 1 draw, 6 pts. (A "draw" means a match where no conclusion could be reached, typically because of the weather; each team earns 2 points, as against 4 points for a win and 0 for a loss.)
The USA was at the bottom of the points table behind the Argentines and Combined Affiliates; all three had the same number of points, but the other teams had both defeated the USA in head-to-head matches. So the USA ended up dead-last-- a dismal showing at the U-19 Tournament.
A major difference between USA and the other top teams in the tournament was that the latter had 3 or 4 players each who had either played in previous U-19 tournaments or/& had represented their "senior sides" at the ICC Trophy in Toronto, while the USA had none. Canada's skipper Bagai, for example, had been wicket-keeper for Canada in the ICC Trophy; Outerbridge and Foggo had played on the senior Bermuda side in Toronto, and the Paterlini brothers were on the Argentina team. Also, none of the US players in the combined "Americas" team from last year were included in this year's U-19 team, while Bermuda, Canada and Argentina carried over several top players from year 2000.
Again, not one of the players on the USA U-19 team had figured among the 25 candidates picked from USA team trials for the ICC Trophy in Toronto, let alone the 15 who were finally selected. And, none of the U-19 cricketers were among the first 50 candidates named to the Selection Committee !
What IS going on here? Are most US cricket officials so ignorant of, or oblivious to, their under-19 top players? Or, were some promising U-19 players named and then ignored by both USACA's ICC Trophy AND U-19 Selection Committees in making their own picks?
( Since the above paragraph was written, Mr. Clifford Hinds of the USACA U-19 selection committee has written a useful report that casts a lot of light on the subject. It appears it was the USACA Directors who made the original U-19 nominations to the Selection Committee, which (along with the Leagues) should be cleared of any malfeasance in the matter. So, it is the Directors on whose shoulders the responsibility must fall, not the Leagues and nor the Selection Commtee.--DKD).
The purpose of youth teams and tournaments in world cricket, after all, is to find future cricketers who can represent their national sides. If this is not happening in the USA for some reason, the main purpose of the U-19 program is being subverted or undermined in the USA.
Another point that is worth mentioning here: those who think of New York, Florida and Southern California as the strongholds of US cricket talent, must have been surprised that all the outstanding US performances came from outside the Florida-New York-Southern Cal nexus.
In fact, Florida did not have a single player in the USA U-19 team-- one wonders why the USA selectors chose to exclude the region entirely. For the USA, Afzaluddin starred with his century and his later fine all-round performances. Born in Illinois, he had returned for his schooling to India, and had extensive experience with junior cricket in Hyderabad (U- 11, U-13 & 15, captain of the U-17 Hyderabad South Zone, besides playing club cricket in Ontario and Detroit). There was also Mumtaz with his "best-of-the-Tournament" five-wicket haul, and Hammad Haider with his 4-wicket haul against the Cayman Islands. All these players were from USA's Central West region--in fact, they were three of the five selected to represent the Region! The other notable performances, a fighting near-half-century under decidedly adverse conditions against Bermuda and a useful supporting innings vs the Cayman Islands, came from A Mehta, the only player selected from Northern California (the two Californias are so far apart in geography and cricket conditions that they do not belong in the same zone in the USACA map.) By way of comparison, Komal Ram Singh's 3/7 against the Cayman Islands was the only notable performance from the New York Region, and there were none from Southern California.
What does this mean-- especially when both the Manager and the Coach of the USA team were selected from the "traditional" cricketing areas in the USA, where they would have been highly unlikely to have encountered any of the notable USA performers before the Tournament took place? Is this evidence of another "disconnect", this time about the source and distribution of youth cricketing talent in the USA?
This issue, too, calls for some careful review-- and some definite findings.
-- Deb K. Das, USA Coordinator, CRICINFO
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