According to a report published in the USCRICKET.COM Web site, Robert Weekes left the position of ICC's Americas Regional Development Manager in Toronto, Canada.
According to USCRICKET.COM, "There is some indication that this shocking decision might be greatly influenced by lack of attendance and losses associated with the recent Under-15 Americas Cricket Championship and Global Cricket Symposium organized by the Cricket Council of the Americas (CCAM) in Florida."
The failure of the Global Development Symposium in Orlando, Florida to live up to even the minimal expectations that had been set up for it has been documented elswhere on this Web Site. ( see Global Symposium: A non-Event ) .
A large part of the blame for this debacle was laid at the door of Robert Weekes, who worked first with the USJC organization which had originated the plans for the Symposium in the first place, but then ditched them under political pressure from the USACA without considering what would be lost without USJC's expertise to carry through the Symposium planning to its conclusion.
Robert Weekes then compounded his (and CCAM's) problems by first cancelling the USJC-sponsored Under-13 tournament in Orlando to appease the USACA, and then moving the Under-15 Tournament from Dallas to Orlando to cover the financial commitments made by USJC which had to be assumed by CCAM.
When Dr. Atul Rai's open letter to Robert Weekes denied any involvement with Weekes' decisions on the Symposium and the Tournaments, Mr. Weekes' fate was all but sealed.
With USACA's complete disinterest and lack of support for the Symposium, the handwriting was on the wall-- Mr. Weekes was left hoist on his own petard, bereft of any political support, and unable to function with any kind of credibility in the Americas cricket scene. He really had no option except to resign.
What Mr. Weekes' resignation does for US and North American cricket has yet to be determined. There will not be too many people who will mourn his passing from the American cricket scene-- but it does leave a gap in ICC's involvement in American cricket, which has been tentative at best and now even more of a question mark.
Postscript: According to USACA's Web site, " Andrew Eade – ICC Development Manager, has appointed Mr. Martin Vierra of Canada" to succeed Mr. Weekes as Americas Development Officer as of April 2003. Mr. Vierra is an administrator with considerable experience with the Canadian Cricket Association, and with Canadian cricket. It will be interesting to see what Mr. Vierra will be to accomplish, and how his activities might overlap with those of Project USA, the new four-year program announced by the ICC.
