Following a long and protracted tussle over procedures, rules and issues, a Board of Directors for the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) was finally elected on January 24, 2001.
Mr. Lesly Lowe, Clifford Hinds and Mr Shelton Glasgow were re-elected as the two directors of the New York area, and the Atlantic Region, respectively.
Elsewhere, there were significant changes.
In the North East Region, Mr.Curtis Clark, Yr 2000 Chair of the Connecticut Cricket League, replaced Mr. Chico Khan of the Massachussetts State Cricket League as Director. Mr. Faoud Bachhus, former West Indies Test cricketer and later captain of the USA team, took over as Director for the South-East Region from Mr. Lloyd Rambaransingh. The Central East Region saw the return of former USACA President Mr. Akthar Masood Syed, who has figured prominently in many issues facing US cricket in the past four years, as Director.
Persons new to the national administration of USACA were Mr. Arun Dev Vittala for the Central West Region, replacing Mr. Yogesh Patel; Dr. Lance Alexander of San Diego and a prominent cricketer and administrator in Southern California, taking over from Mr. Bobby Refaie; and Mr. Syed Abid Ali, former Indian Test cricketer (the only person in the history of world cricket to consistently open batting AND bowling at the Test level, until Manoj Prabhakar also of India), now a coach and player in the Bay Area, filling the vacant Northwest Region Board seat. Finally, Mr. Paul Da Silva took over from Mr. Krish Prasad, as the Board representative for the Council of League Presidents.
As can be seen from the results, the new Board of Directors of the USACA are a mix of old and new. Four are holdovers from the previous Board, Five are new to the national-level administration of the USACA, and one is a returning USACA officer from past years. Several members of the 2001 Board of Firectors have distinguished themselves in international or regional cricket arenas.
Will the new Board be able to bury any hatchets that may still be lying around, and seek to work constructively with the USACA executive which is still in office? Under the USACA Constitution, the current officers of the USACA are supposed to continue for another year. That is when the newly constituted Board is supposed to elect new officers for two-year terms. The dates for election of new officers have not yet been set, but are expected to be around end-2001.
Perhaps the USACA, as a whole, will now decide to exercise some leadership, and set a meaningful agenda for US cricket for the years ahead. Stay tuned. We should know, soon enough.
--Deb K. Das, USA Coordinator, CRICINFO.
