USA Cricketer : Steve Massiah, 2012 ICC WCL Division Four, Rashard Marshall

USA Cricket: 2013 ICC WCL Division Three Report Card Part 3 - Outlook for USA's 50-over future

openingbat — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:22:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Click here for Part 1 - Team Grades and Part 2 - Player Grades

Part 3 - Outlook for USA’s 50-over future

1. Sort out the coaching situation – According to multiple team sources, Robin Singh was furious when talking to the team over the phone from India after USA lost to Bermuda on the last day of round-robin play. It’s hard to understand why he was furious though. Was it because he took a bigger paycheck from the Mumbai Indians to be in India instead of with USA during the Division Three tournament?

Singh is understood to have spoken to the team or team management after every match in Bermuda. Coaching by conference call is no way to coach. At the U-19 and men’s level, USA’s only successes under Robin Singh and his crew have been a second-place finish last September at ICC WCL Division Four and against ICC Americas competition, which is the least competitive standard USA encounters in international play.

Image (right) - Robin Singh, pictured during a match-day training session at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament in Florida, has USA way down the totem pole on his list of coaching priorities. Will he commit fully to USA or should USACA search elsewhere? [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

It is very hard to understand why Robin Singh is paid a princely sum for his services when the USA Cricket Association is an administrative pauper. A cash-strapped governing body certainly should be able to find a less expensive coaching option that will get them more value, specifically someone who is based in the USA and is willing to work with the players on a more consistent basis locally. Singh is paid to more or less be a chaperone on tours or as was the case in Bermuda, to consult by telephone rather than in person because he has higher priorities in India.

USACA needs to put their foot down once and for all to make Singh choose between coaching USA or sticking with his other commitments in Twenty20 franchise leagues around the world. If he wants to make more money coaching with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League or the Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League then that's a perfectly normal decision. Coaching USA should be someone's first priority though, not their third, fourth or fifth.

2. Choose a new captain – Steve Massiah took over the role from Richard Staple as USA captain at the ICC Americas Division One tournament in August 2006. There are currently 42 international teams that USA has either played against from 2006-2013, been at the same tournament as USA in that time or are currently ranked above USA in the global 50-over rankings. Of those 42 teams, only three still have the same captain in 50-over cricket: Argentina (Esteban MacDermott), Papua New Guinea (Rarua Dikana) and Tanzania (Hamisi Abdallah).

It’s worth noting that not only has every ICC Full Member changed their 50-over captain in that time, but also every one of the High Performance Program Associate teams. Having a new captain is not necessarily a reflection of a regression in skills from the incumbent. It’s about having fresh ideas and fresh styles, trying something different when the status quo has not achieved desired results.

Image (left) - Steve Massiah, pictured batting against Uganda, has been USA captain since 2006, during which USA has failed to reach the ICC World Cup Qualifier in two consecutive World Cup qualification cycles. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA has effectively stood still in the global rankings since Massiah became captain. As a result of their 10th place finish at the 2005 ICC Trophy under Staple, USA was due to participate in 2007 ICC WCL Division Three in Australia before an ICC suspension dropped them down to Division Five. USA has since clawed back into Division Three twice. They were relegated from Division Three in 2011 and are now stuck there after a third place finish in 2013 instead of advancing to the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier. Prior to Massiah becoming captain, USA had participated in every single ICC Trophy, the former name of the ICC World Cup Qualifier, from 1979 through 2005. In seven years under Massiah's captaincy, no progress has been made and USA has arguably gone backwards after failing to reach the ICC World Cup Qualifier, let alone the main event, during two World Cup qualification cycles ahead of the 2011 and 2015 ICC World Cup.

Massiah is USA’s all-time leading scorer in one-day cricket and provided solid contributions at Division Three against Italy and Oman. However, his leadership has become stale and captaincy appears to have had some drain on his batting. He has not scored a century in tournament play since 2006. He doesn’t command a place in USA’s T20 team, let alone a spot as captain, with a T20 average of 11.00 in 14 games. So it’s conceivable that Massiah might not be a participant in any ICC tournament for two years when the next Division Three tournament is anticipated to take place in 2015. The time is right to make a change.

There are a few players who are good candidates to be USA’s captain in both formats. Sushil Nadkarni has been USA's vice-captain for several years and served as captain of the T20 team in the UAE last year. Orlando Baker led USA well in March at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One T20 and has plenty of experience under his belt.

Image (right) - After leading USA to an 8-0 record in March at the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament, Orlando Baker would make a good choice to become USA's captain across all formats. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

USA could also choose to go in a different direction and adopt policies that countries such as Hong Kong and Nepal have employed by naming a much younger player as captain to give them time to ease into the role. In that scenario, Steven Taylor would be the obvious choice. Taylor served as vice-captain to Baker in March during the ICC Americas tournament. He will most likely be captaining the USA U-19 team in Canada this July and has previously captained the USA U-15 squad in 2009 so he is already gaining plenty of experience in leadership positions. It might be good for Baker or Nadkarni to be the captain for the next few years though until Taylor or another up and coming player like Ryan Corns, who captained USA during one of the two T20s against Canada during the Auty Cup tour in November, is ready to take over the mantle.

3. Commit to a core squad, one with better balance focused more on specialist batsmen and bowlers instead of an overload of allrounders and one-dimensional sloggers– USA's selection snafus were chronicled on DreamCricket.com well before the squad took part in Division Three. Taking a much closer look at the composition of USA's squad, they went to Bermuda with only three specialist batsmen: Massiah, Nadkarni and Rashard Marshall. The rest of the 14-man squad was made up of two wicketkeepers, four allrounders and five bowlers. It is almost impossible to win a tournament with such an unbalanced squad.

Taking the field with only three specialist batsmen, USA was basically forced to pick all four allrounders - Baker, Timroy Allen, Barrington Bartley and Japen Patel - in their starting eleven every game during the round-robin phase. Several members of USA’s management touted the fact that USA could bat to number 10 with Neil McGarrell and Elmore Hutchinson down the order, but that meant nothing if the players taking up those spots throughout the order are bits and pieces batsmen rather than full-fledged specialists. The truth is that having so many allrounders created the illusion that USA's batting contained more depth than there actually was. It also meant that no matter what, it would be near impossible for Danial Ahmed or Naseer Jamali to get a game in place of one of the allrounders because it would make USA's batting even thinner.

The unbalanced squad selection came back to bite USA by the end of the tournament, especially when Nadkarni was out with an injury in the final round-robin match against Bermuda. USA was not a team playing with six specialist batsmen in their usual starting eleven, let alone did they have the luxury to call upon a reserve specialist batsman. When Nadkarni couldn't play, USA sent out a starting eleven consisting of two specialist batsmen, two wicketkeepers, four allrounders and three specialist bowlers. It should surprise no one that they lost.

This was why dumping players like Aditya Thyagarajan and Aditya Mishra ahead of the tournament was a mistake. Specialist batsmen who can dig in and rotate the strike rather than relying on fours and sixes to score all of their runs would have been very handy to have against Uganda and Bermuda but they were nowhere to be found.

Although Marshall is a specialist batsman and Allen an allrounder, they have similar batting styles as does Bartley. Marshall demonstrated against Oman that he can knock the ball around for singles, but all three are heavily reliant on clearing the ropes to score the majority of their runs and they sometimes struggle to adjust if the match situation calls for a different method of scoring. At most, two players who play in that style can afford to be in the middle order and not three. Japen Patel playing at number nine and not bowling means he is not capable of holding down a spot in the team on his batting or bowling alone, let alone as an allrounder. Two of those spots in the starting eleven could have gone to specialist batsmen or one each to a batsman and a bowler like Danial Ahmed.

Overall, USA made six changes to the squad that advanced from Division Four in Malaysia. Nepal, the Division Four champions, only made one change to their squad for Division Three in Bermuda. Changing almost half the squad that gained promotion for USA into Division Three was a radical maneuver and clearly didn’t pay off. Meanwhile, Nepal stuck to their core group and wound up Division Three champions.

Image (left) - Aditya Thyagarajan is one of several veterans whose presence was sorely missed in Bermuda at 2013 ICC Division Three. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

The respective squad selections by USA and Nepal from 2012 ICC WCL Division Four to 2013 ICC WCL Division Three are a microcosm of a much deeper issue. From 2008 ICC WCL Division Five in Jersey - the first tournament that USA and Nepal ever played against each other - to 2013 ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda, Nepal has used 26 players in 81 games in 50-over and T20 cricket. Meanwhile, USA has used almost three times as many, 67 players, across 90 games in 50-over and T20 cricket (see list at end of section three). The list of 67 does not include four other players - Abhijit Joshi, Glen Hall, Hemant Punoo and Josh Dascombe - who either toured with USA's senior team without appearing in a starting eleven or played for USA in unofficial/warm-up matches. USA has picked 52 players that have appeared in 50-over and/or 20-over cricket plus an additional 15 players who have appeared solely in 20-over cricket. Nearly half of those players, 30, were picked for a single tour in that timespan. This means that USA has used more players for a solitary tour experience than Nepal has used for all of its tours combined from 2008-2013.

Those numbers, 67 total players and 30 one-and-dones, are absolutely staggering figures. It can’t be blamed on lack of availability for players to get time off from work or school classes either. It simply comes down to USACA’s lack of vision and planning, with almost no continuity from tournament to tournament.

USA only had five players in their squad for Bermuda that participated in the previous Division Three tournament in Hong Kong in 2011. Clearly, experienced hands like Thyagarajan and Shuja were missed more than anyone in Bermuda, but the services of others who were part of the team in Malaysia such as Mishra, who was USA’s T20 vice-captain in 2012, and Corns were also missed. More continuity and faith in a core group could have led to better results.

Looking elsewhere, a model Associate Member like Ireland has more or less used the same core group of players over the last few years which unsurprisingly has been a recipe for success. From the 15-man squad that was picked to go to the 2011 ICC World Cup, 11 were named in the squad that will play two ODIs against Pakistan later this month. The four who weren’t – Andre Botha, Nigel Jones, Boyd Rankin and Albert van der Merwe – are absent because all four have retired from international cricket. Regardless of the fact that the majority of Ireland’s players are contracted professionals and USA’s are amateurs with either classes or jobs to attend on a daily basis, Ireland’s administration has shown faith in a core group of players and stuck with them.

From the start of the 2011 ICC World Cup, Ireland has used a total of 19 players in ODIs and T20s. Essentially, Ireland has had 11 core players from 2011-2013 and has committed itself to developing four players to replace the four who retired since the 2011 ICC World Cup. Meanwhile, USA has used 50 players in official one-day and T20 matches from 2011-2013. Ireland and Nepal's consistent selection policies have been rewarded with on-field success while USA's fluctuating fortunes are a reflection of their inconsistent, mercurial, haphazard and scatterbrained selection policies.

Players USA has used in official matches since 2008 listed in alphebetical order
Note - Players who only appeared in a single tour from 2008-2013 are listed in bold italics

George Adams, Danial Ahmed, Quasen Alfred, Timroy Allen, Imran Awan, Orlando Baker, Barrington Bartley, Adil Bhatti, Ryan Corns, Robert Cresser, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Jignesh Desai, Sudesh Dhaniram, Akeem Dodson (wk), Dennis Evans, Durale Forrest, Karan Ganesh, Bhim George, Muhammad Ghous, Adrian Gordon, Hussain Haidar, Elmore Hutchinson, Moazzam Imtiaz, Naseer Jamali, Nasir Javed, Howard Johnson, Ritesh Kadu (wk), Asif Khan, Bilal Khan, Rahul Kukreti (wk), Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah, Neil McGarrell, Ashhar Mehdi (wk), Stu Mills (wk), Aditya Mishra, Masood Mohamed, Andy Mohammed, Shahid Munir, Nauman Mustafa (wk), Sushil Nadkarni, Kumar Nandalal, Amir Nanjee, Japen Patel, Mital Patel, Timil Patel, William Perkins (wk), Steve Pitter, Abhimanyu Rajp, Gowkaran Roopnarine, Saqib Saleem, Greg Sewdial, Niraj Shah, Samarth Shah, Hammad Shahid, Usman Shuja, Saami Siddiqui (wk), Charan Singh, Nicholas Standford, Timothy Surujbally, Steven Taylor (wk), Aditya Thyagarajan, Anand Tummala, Clain Williams, Carl Wright (wk), Saurabh Verma.

4. Find at least one sponsor for the national team – USA and Oman were the only two teams in Bermuda not to have a sponsor on their jerseys. The USA jerseys themselves were flimsy, with the lettering on the jersey of at least one player falling off halfway through the tournament. Last year, USACA apparently had a brief arrangement with Reebok to have their jerseys provided but that deal has since dried up. It’s hard to believe that a USA national team in any sport has to pay for their uniforms instead of being paid by a major apparel sponsor to wear that sponsor’s logo, but that is the situation USACA continues to find itself in.

Although USACA cleverly presents several business entities as “USACA Partners” on their web site, USACA doesn’t have any genuine sponsors. An ideal business tie would be with one of the many domestic airlines in the USA. Since 2011, USACA has had two board members who are employees at a pair of major airlines, United and American. Such a sponsorship might help defray costs of flying players in and out of Florida for camps, trials and domestic tournaments.

One of former USACA CEO Don Lockerbie’s failures was in not securing any sort of sponsorships in the five to six-figure range. Lockerbie overestimated USA’s market value and kept seeking million dollar deals which never appeared. Although he played a major role in linking USACA with New Zealand Cricket and other investors to form Cricket Holdings America LLC, that partnership has so far done little to advance cricket in the USA financially or developmentally.

Image (above) - Uganda had a sponsor, Mehta Group, at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three. Meanwhile, USA was without corporate support for yet another international tournament. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

There’s no reason why USACA should not be able to find a bank sponsor, airline sponsor, hotel sponsor, automobile sponsor and/or a beverage sponsor in addition to a separate corporation or business as a title sponsor for all of its endeavors. Securing sponsorships is supposed to be Darren Beazley’s calling card. USA’s stakeholders will see over the next few years if he lives up to his billing in that regard.

Reaching the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier might have made it easier for Beazley to secure a sponsorship and finishing in the top four would have almost made it a slam dunk because USA would have then qualified for the ICC High Performance Program, which would have carried admission into the Intercontinental Cup as well as ODI status. USA would have then had a guaranteed number of fixtures each year outside of ICC tournaments. Another domino effect of that would have been an incentive to give a handful of USA’s younger players such as Taylor, Allen and Muhammad Ghous central contracts with any sponsorship funds that could have flowed in.

Instead, USA will now be without a 50-over ICC tournament until at least 2015 and if USA doesn’t finish in the top six at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in November, USA will not participate in a single 50-over or 20-over ICC tournament in 2014. It’s nearly impossible to award a USA player a central contract when they may only be playing a handful of games a year. It’s also hard to secure sponsorship when a team has only a handful of non-televised fixtures to display a sponsor’s logo on a jersey on the field, meaning the opportunities are limited for the sponsor to get exposure and a return on their investment. That makes Beazley’s job much harder, but not impossible.

[Views expressed in this article are those of the author who was present at all of the team's matches at 2013 ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda. If you have differing views or opinions, we respect those views and urge you to provide your feedback - both positive and negative - in the comments section.]

USA Cricket: 14-man squad officially announced for 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia

openingbat — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 21:05:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

[Source: USACA Press Release]

USACA has announced a 14-man squad to participate in the 2012 ICC Pepsi World Cricket League Division 4 Tournament to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 3 to 10, 2012. Along with USA, the other participating associate countries are Denmark, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and Tanzania.

The tournament will be round robin with each team playing each other once followed by playoffs and finals to determine rankings from 1-6. The top 2 finishers will be promoted to WCL Division 3 scheduled to be held in Bermuda from April 28 to May 5, 2013.

Looking for consistency and continuity, the selectors opted to retain a core of players that participated in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE in March and recalled five experienced players including Steve Massiah who has returned as captain.

The team is a good blend of experience and youth. However, undoubtedly, USA will be depending heavily on its younger players who have all come through the various regional youth programs and ICC U19 World Cup participation over the past six years.

USA is expected to arrive in Malaysia on August 28 for practice, training and acclimatization prior to the start of the tournament on September 3.

USA squad: Steve Massiah (captain, New York), Sushil Nadkarni (vice-captain, Central East), Timroy Allen (South East), Orlando Baker (Central East), Ryan Corns (Central East), Akeem Dodson (New York), Muhammad Ghous (Atlantic), Elmore Hutchinson (South West), Rashard Marshall (New York), Aditya Mishra (North West), Abhimanyu Rajp (South West), Usman Shuja (Central West), Steven Taylor (South East), Aditya Thyagarajan (South West).

Coach - Robin Singh

Assistant Coach - Thirunavukkarasu Kumaran

Bowling Coach - Nasir "Charlie" Javed

Physio - Akhtar Masood Syed

Manager - Shoaib Ahmed

Video Analyst - Sriram Somayajula

USA Cricket: Preparation? What Preparation?

openingbat — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 06:49:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

After the USA U-18 team lost their first two matches in Florida last week at the 2012 ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp, getting bowled out for paltry totals of 84 and 112 in the process, a parent of one of the players approached me to ask a question. “In your journalistic opinion, what did you think of the preparation this team had ahead of playing these matches?” I responded, “Preparation? What preparation?” The parent then nodded before walking away.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with bringing a copy of the Laws of Cricket to the USA from a trip to England in the mid 18th century. That shouldn’t be the last contribution he is credited with for cricket in America. Current administrators might want to heed a quote that is attributed to him. “If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

This has yet to register with the USACA brain trust though. The administration has a well-established habit of failing to do what it can to prepare USA teams adequately for international tournaments. As a result, USA has had a succession of failures at recent ICC events: 6th out of 6 teams at 2011 ICC WCL Division Three, 7th out of 10 teams at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier, 8th out of 10 teams at the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier, 12th out of 16 teams at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

The last place finish of USA’s U-18 squad at the ICC Americas event last week was another example. The tournament was organized with the goal in mind to gauge where each country is at heading into next year’s ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier for the Americas Region. USACA has not held a national U-19 tournament since August 2010 and has never held a national U-17 tournament. Most of the players who were on this squad last played in a national level tournament at the U-15 level which would could have been 12 months ago for some players and 24 months ago for others.

Players in the 15 to 19 age bracket can experience drastic physical and skill changes in a 12-24 month time span. With no junior national tournament held for 12 months, selection at the very least can turn into a crap shoot, but more often it becomes a political free-for-all as different regional administrators jockey for position to get as many of their players, who sometimes double as their sons, selected as possible. The result of zero preparation ahead of that tournament was on full display when USA lost by 115 runs in their first match and again by six wickets in the second before the team started to find its feet. It’s very clear based on the stats coming from that event that more than a few players did not merit selection in the first place.

There hasn’t been any USACA men’s national tournament in 13 months and there hasn’t been a USACA 50-over men’s tournament since November 2010. The last time USACA organized something for senior men’s players as some form of preparation was a fitness and selection camp in January prior to heading to the UAE. After USA’s last place finish in Hong Kong at 2011 WCL Division Three and again after they failed to reach the knockout stage of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, it was clear that they suffered from a lack of preparation.

Images (above) - Clockwise from top left Steve Massiah, Aditya Thyagarajan, Rashard Marshall and Timroy Allen. Could they be making a return to the USA squad for ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia this September? [Images of Massiah, Allen and Marshall courtesy of ICC/Daniela Zaharia, image of Thyagarajan courtesy of DreamCricket.com/Peter Della Penna]

Yet, the USACA administration has sat on their hands for the last four months and done nothing to get a squad ready to play in what will be a very difficult tournament in Malaysia at 2012 WCL Division Four this September. The hosts along with Singapore and Nepal possess spin heavy attacks which will present problems for any team, but especially a team that is grossly underprepared. If there was ever a time where a selection camp or national tournament was needed ahead of a crucial ICC promotion and relegation event, this was it.

What’s most puzzling of all is why there haven’t been any domestic USACA tournaments for over a year now. In 2011, several tournaments were postponed or canceled and the fallback excuse was that it was for “financial” reasons, meaning a lack of funds. How can USACA cry poor in one breath while using the next to huff and puff about the millions of dollars that are flowing in as a result of signing their deal with New Zealand Cricket and other investors to form Cricket Holdings America? USACA President Gladstone Dainty said in December 2010 that USACA would be receiving $2 million dollars per year as part of the deal. This doesn’t include the money that USACA gets for being an Associate member of the ICC. Where is all this money going? What’s it being used on?

USACA announced on July 5, a day after the ICC officially announced that WCL Division Four would take place from September 3-10, that USACA would “shortly be announcing a preliminary short-list squad from which the final 14 will be selected. It is anticipated that Team USA will depart on August 26 for pre-tournament training and acclimatization.”

At the time, rumors were circulating that 32 names had been slapped together from different regions for a selection camp in Florida in order to help pick a squad. In typical USACA fashion, the administration dragged its feet and nothing happened. All ICC Tournaments require that the final 14-man (or 15-man depending on the event) squads must be submitted 30 days prior to the first match, which would mean Friday, August 3 for this tournament. With no camp scheduled for this weekend or next, it’s expected that rather than have any sort of fitness and selection camp with an extended list of players ahead of August 3, USACA will instead skip straight ahead to announce a 14-man squad.

If there is no camp or camps prior to this 14-man squad leaving for Malaysia on August 26th, they won’t arrive until late on the 27th or early on the 28th. They will then have at best six days but more likely five days of practice before the first match. With no national tournament, selection camp or group training sessions held at any point in the weeks and months prior to a team being selected and leaving, five days of practice before the first live match is not good enough from the administration and it’s not fair on the players who are saddled with such a heavy responsibility of representing the national team on the field.

There is also the matter of building or rebuilding team chemistry. Rumors are circulating that there could be several much needed changes made to the squad as veteran players may be making a return to boost the strength and depth in the squad, particularly in the batting department, that was missing in the UAE in March. Steve Massiah, Aditya Thyagarajan, Timroy Allen and Rashard Marshall are all being discussed as additions to the USA team according to numerous sources. Having players of this caliber return will definitely improve USA’s chances of being promoted to Division Three in Bermuda, but it is not a foregone conclusion that they’ll finish first or second in Malaysia just by showing up.

Without having adequate preparation ahead of a tournament, the evidence from the UAE in March showed that it took USA until their fifth match before they finally started to hit their stride and notched their first win. If it takes them that long in Malaysia, they will already have secured relegation to Division Five and will have missed out on participating in an ICC World Cup Qualifier for the second consecutive time. Conversely, a top two finish will send them to Division Three in Bermuda and a top two finish at that event in 2013 will propel them to the 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand.

It’s up to the USACA administration to prepare the USA national teams for success, first by picking the best 14 players possible and second by giving them the tools to succeed. If USACA fails to prepare the squad adequately for WCL Division Four in Malaysia which starts in just over six weeks, then fans, followers and stakeholders of the USA men’s national team should prepare for the team to fail.

[Views expressed in this article are those of the author. If you have differing views or opinions, we respect those views and urge you to provide your feedback - both positive and negative - in the comments section.]

USA Cricket: 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier Report Card Part 3 - Outlook for WCL Division Four

openingbat — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:27:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Click here for Part 1: Team Grades and Part 2: Player Grades

What the team needs heading into ICC WCL Division Four

Preparation: The following quote is taken from the report card that was written after the 2011 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament in July.

“When the team went to Dubai in 2010 for the last World Twenty20 Qualifier, they got to play two warm-up matches against the UAE before the tournament started and wound up finishing fifth after beating Scotland and losing to Ireland and Afghanistan. They’ll need something more significant in terms of preparation prior to leaving for Dubai to have any hope of finishing in the top two in next year’s qualifier. There is currently nothing scheduled for the men’s team between now and March when the Qualifier is due to be held so making plans to fill that gap in the calendar should be a high priority.”

If the USACA administration was able to arrange a four-match 50-over series in Florida for the USA U-19 team against West Indies U-19 before heading off to Ireland for last summer’s ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier, the administration should have been able to make a few phone calls to organize some unofficial Twenty20 fixtures to be played in late December or early January in Florida against some of the West Indian domestic teams such as Jamaica, Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago for the USA men. West Indies A played a series of unofficial matches against Bangladesh A in November and something similar could have been designed for USA against one of the islands during the gap in the West Indies domestic calendar ahead of the Caribbean T20 tournament in January.

The administration failed to prepare the team for this tournament and as a result the team was prepared to fail. In the seven and a half months that followed USA’s second place finish at the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament in July, next to nothing was done. USA played three Twenty20s in Canada in August, but because USA was only confirmed to participate a week before the start of the Etihad Summer Cricket Festival, a B squad was sent to play in Toronto.

Of the players who participated for USA in the event against Canada, Afghanistan and Trinidad & Tobago, only two of them were picked in the 14-man squad to go to the UAE – Muhammad Ghous and Andy Mohammed – while Japen Patel joined as an injury replacement. For the other 12 players in the team that went to the UAE this month, the only matches they got to play together in a USA uniform between July and the first match against Uganda were three warm-ups in Sharjah a few days before the qualifier began.

Compare that to Namibia, who like USA is not one of the six ICC High Performance Program teams. Like USA, they played their ICC Regional Qualifier in July and finished second at the ICC Africa Division One Twenty20. However, they had a plan in place that resulted in an undefeated 7-0 record in Group B. When Scotland visited to play an Intercontinental Cup match and two 50-over games in September, Namibia arranged for them to stay an extra week into October so they could play five unofficial Twenty20s against each other. Scotland won four of the five, but the preparation and familiarity with their opposition certainly helped Namibia when they hammered Scotland at the qualifier.

Then, completely independent of any ICC tournament obligations whatsoever, Namibia hosted Kenya for eight unofficial Twenty20 matches in November. They won six matches and lost two, but most importantly got to try out various combinations and roles to see what worked best. Namibia also plays in South Africa’s provincial three-day and 50-over competitions, but they specifically sought out Twenty20 practice matches independent of that to get their players geared up for the qualifier and it paid off.

Conversely, USA’s administration sat on their hands. As a result, the coaching staff was trialing combinations and roles during the tournament rather than ahead of the tournament. It cost the team badly. Previous evidence shows that USA takes a long time to get into a good rhythm when they enter an ICC tournament which takes place in the northern hemisphere winter, outside of USA’s domestic club cricket season. They needed all the help they could get ahead of this tournament to get prepared. Instead, the administration thought that a three-day selection camp in January followed by a series of weekly conference calls before leaving on March 6 for the UAE would bring good results. USA’s 3-6 tournament record demonstrates what a folly that was.

Anyone looking to make excuses for USA’s performance at the qualifier by saying that it’s unfair to compare USA with the upper echelon Associate level teams is doing just that, making excuses. Entering the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, USA had beaten Scotland, Canada, Nepal, Italy and Hong Kong in either 50-over or 20-over matches since the start of 2010. Scotland finished fifth and Canada sixth at the qualifier. Nepal finished seventh, Italy 10th and Hong Kong 11th.

Image (right) - Aditya Mishra hits a six against Scotland in USA's seven-wicket win. If they can finish comfortably on top against Scotland, there's no reason USA can't stand toe-to-toe with any other Associate. [Courtesy: ICC/Ian Jacobs]

USA’s talent matches up well with any of those teams. Scotland played in the Intercontinental Cup final at the end of 2010. USA beat them convincingly at the World Twenty20 Qualifier in 2010 and they beat them convincingly at the World Twenty20 Qualifier in 2012. The fact is that USA’s players are talented enough and capable of competing with any team that was in the tournament, including Ireland and Afghanistan. However, that can’t be done by standing idle for seven and a half months while other countries are playing together regularly.

Selecting players for roles: One of the most amusing things to go back and read on the forums after the end of a match are comments left by fans and supporters that say something along the lines of, “Player X opens for his club/league/region team. Why is he batting at number seven for USA?” One of the only players who bats in the same role for his club/league/region as he does when he has played for the national team is Aditya Thyagarajan. Not surprisingly, Thyagarajan has had success playing in the middle order for USA because he is familiar and comfortable there due to the fact that he fills the same role for his club/region.

Every other player picked for USA opens or bats at number three for their club/league/region. Then they come to play for USA and are asked to bat at 5, 6, 7 or 8 and have no situational experience to draw upon. They are used to starting the innings and dictating the course of play. For the most part, they have no concept of how to respond when they enter at 30 for 4 or 40 for 5 when playing for the national team because they’ve never had to do it at club/league/regional level. They struggle and the team struggles as a result. More attention needs to be placed on picking players for roles. USA is guilty of this at U-19 level as well as senior level in terms of squad selection. It makes no sense picking eight opening batsmen when only two can play in that position for the national team.

Get people playing regularly on turf wickets: The vast majority of USA’s squad had limited international experience prior to this tournament. The vast majority of them also had limited experience playing on turf wickets. Two players who play on turf wickets on a weekly basis at Woodley in Los Angeles – Abhimanyu Rajp and Elmore Hutchinson – were two of USA’s most impressive players on tour despite the fact that they were making their debuts for USA. That’s no coincidence. USA’s batsmen in particular struggled and part of those struggles can be pinned on failing to adjust to turf wickets after playing virtually year round on artificial surfaces. It will continue to be this way until the administration makes infrastructure development a top priority.

Hire a full-time coach/team director: This was discussed in November, but it’s worth revisiting here. Just about every player had positive things to say about Robin Singh and his involvement with the squad. Singh was with the team during the warm-up and group phase, then flew back to India after USA’s final group match against Scotland. Everyone felt they learned something from him over the course of their time with him.

However, USACA is wasting precious funds by just throwing money at him to show up for two weeks and disappear again. USACA must bring him on board full-time and have him work with the various regions on a regular basis by developing programs geared to get everyone on the same page and he has to work with the national team inside the USA ahead of tours as well. It’s no use having him just show up at tournament time. He needs to be on site on a regular basis.

Hire a proper physio: Throwing a first aid kit bag over a USACA board member’s shoulder doesn’t count. The person USACA has been sending on every tour to be the team physio is licensed in the state of Illinois to be a Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA). He is not licensed to be a Physical Therapist (PT). According to the Illinois Physical Therapy Association, there is a very big difference between the two.

Physical Therapist

“Physical therapists must graduate from an accredited educational program with a master's or doctoral degree. After completing your education, you will be required to pass a licensure examination before you can work as a PT. Coursework includes biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as specialized courses such as biomechanics, neuroanatomy, human growth and development, manifestations of disease, examination techniques, and therapeutic procedures.”

Physical Therapist Assistant

“Physical Therapist Assistants graduate from a 2 year program, earning an associates degree from an accredited physical therapist assistant program. PTAs also must pass a licensure examination to work as a PTA. PTAs perform a number of physical therapy treatments and procedures as determined by the supervising physical therapist.”

There are plenty of 27 and 28-year-old newly licensed physical therapists fresh out of completing a master's or doctoral degree at university with the latest training methods in sports medicine who would give their right arm for an opportunity to work for a few weeks on tour for a USA national team in any sport. Many of them would probably do it pro bono as long as their expenses were taken care of. The selectors showed in January that they were keen to find some fresh blood to represent the team. With that spirit in mind, the same should be done for the next tour by bringing along a new fully licensed, freshly trained physical therapist.

A healthy Aditya Thyagarajan: If USA’s middle order man for all crises can return to full fitness after more than a year away from the national team, he would provide priceless stability to the batting. To give fans a reminder of what USA has been missing, here’s a look at some of Thyagarajan’s highlights in a red, white and blue uniform:

November 27, 2008: Enters match at 114 for 4, builds 119-run partnership with Rashard Marshall for the sixth wicket. Finishes second top score behind Marshall with 42 in total of 254 for 7 before eventual 86-run win over Bermuda.

Image (left) - Aditya Thyagarajan in action against Canada in 2008. [Courtesy: ICC]

November 29, 2008: Enters match at 59 for 4, builds 105-run partnership with Orlando Baker for the seventh wicket. Top score of 84 not out in total of 201 for 8 in USA’s eventual 81-run win over Canada.

February 10, 2010: Enters match at 11 for 5 in fourth over, builds 99-run unbeaten partnership with Orlando Baker for the seventh wicket. Top score of 72 not out in 78-run loss to Ireland at ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

February 23, 2010: Enters match at 55 for 5 in 23rd over, builds 118-run partnership with Carl Wright for the sixth wicket. Builds 80-run unbeaten partnership with Rashard Marshall for seventh wicket. Top score of 83 not out in USA’s 66-run win over Jersey.

February 26, 2010: With USA needing 163 to win in 50 overs, enters chase at 112 for 5 in 29th over. Builds 47-run unbeaten partnership with Sushil Nadkarni for the sixth wicket. Scores 18 not out in five-wicket win over Nepal amidst crowd rioting.

May 28, 2010: Enters match at 91 for 4, builds 213-run partnership with Orlando Baker for the fifth wicket. Top score of 159 in total of 347 for 6 in USA’s eventual 119-run win over Argentina.

June 6, 2010: With USA needing 101 to win in 20 overs, enters chase at 60 for 4 in 10th over. Builds 37-run unbeaten partnership with Carl Wright for the sixth wicket. Top score of 27 not out as USA wins ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 title over Canada by five wickets with nine balls to spare.

August 20, 2010: Enters match at 17 for 5 in fifth over, builds 84-run partnership with Lennox Cush for the sixth wicket. Builds 205-run unbeaten partnership with Rashard Marshall for the seventh wicket. Scores 102 not out in total of 306 for 6 before eventual 196-run win over Argentina.

Call him the Iceman, the Insurance Policy, the Stick of Glue… call him whatever you want, Thyagarajan was USA’s middle order. USA hasn’t been the same since he went down with a dislocated right knee against Denmark in Hong Kong more than a year ago at ICC WCL Division Three. He’s progressed enough in rehab to be playing club cricket for Hollywood CC in the SCCA, but he needs to get 100% fit and back into a USA uniform for ICC WCL Division Four. USA is a different team with him in the lineup and the younger players can learn a huge amount by observing him and the way he approaches each innings.

The return of Steve Massiah: Massiah has never been a good performer in Twenty20 cricket so it’s doubtful he would have caused a change in fortunes for USA had he been with the squad in the UAE. However, he still offers value to USA in the 50-over format. Now that his legal matter has been resolved, it opens the door for him to come back and bolster USA’s middle order for WCL Division Four.

With Massiah and Thyagarajan in the lineup, USA should feel more confident about its chances of progressing from Division Four - where they'll be up against Denmark, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and Tanzania - back into Division Three. The four teams in Division Three awaiting the two sides to get promoted from Division Four are Bermuda, Italy, Oman and Uganda. On paper, Division Four is going to be more difficult than Division Three. USA will need all hands on deck to progress out of Division Four and Massiah will be one of the players who has to step up.

Finding a wicketkeeper: Since 2010, USA has used Carl Wright, Orlando Baker, Ashhar Mehdi, Steven Taylor, Ritesh Kadu, Akeem Dodson and Nauman Mustafa in the specialist position. Taylor was forced into the role on this tour when it wasn’t the original plan, but he is not a long term solution and should only be used to keep wicket in emergency situations. Otherwise, Taylor should be playing as a specialist batsman.

USA’s handling of Mustafa on this tour was reminiscent of their handling of Durale Forrest in Hong Kong. The coaching staff killed Mustafa’s confidence by dropping him and handing the gloves over to Taylor rather than show faith in Mustafa after a rough first game behind the stumps against Uganda. Forrest didn’t even get the benefit of a game before his confidence was shattered. He had to watch as a 46-year-old assistant coach was added to the roster and walked right into the starting XI before he could even make his debut.

USACA has also done wonders to put a major dent in Akeem Dodson’s development. The 24-year-old won the Best Wicketkeeper Award at the ICC Americas tournament in July, but USACA sent invitations out to a half-dozen other wicketkeepers for January’s selection camp. Mustafa succeeded in knocking the incumbent out, but couldn’t cement his position once on tour and that caused a major headache for the squad during and after the tournament. It's highly likely that USA will be going back to the drawing board once again for a different wicketkeeper when WCL Division Four comes around after Mustafa's underwhelming performance in the UAE.

The bottom line is someone needs to step up to fill the role ahead of WCL Division Four. The wicketkeeper position figures to be one of at least two roster spots in the team up for grabs heading into the senior team’s next international commitment. Adil Bhatti might be able to fight off a few challengers to remain in the squad, but if Timroy Allen or Rashard Marshall show interest in recommitting themselves to the national team, they would be too difficult to pass up. Here’s a projected lineup for USA at Division Four with two roster spots left unnamed.

1. Steven Taylor
2. Aditya Mishra (vice-captain)
3. Sushil Nadkarni (captain)
4. Steve Massiah
5. Aditya Thyagarajan
6. Orlando Baker
7. Wicketkeeper - Up for grabs
8. Elmore Hutchinson
9. Usman Shuja
10. Abhimanyu Rajp
11. Muhammad Ghous

12th man: Ryan Corns
13th man: Asif Khan
14th man: Up for grabs

[Views expressed in this article are those of the author who was present at all of the team's matches. If you have differing views or opinions, we respect those views and urge you to provide your feedback - both positive and negative - in the comments section.]