Road clear for new USA Cricket governing body

The USA national cricket team was organized by the USA Cricket Association. The USACA was a part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1965 but its membership was revoked on grounds of poor governance and financial status.

A recent announcement disclosed that a new governing body known as USA Cricket would be in control of the national team and work towards the development of the sport in America. However, this body will start its operations only in 2018. The ICC Americas Administrators would oversee the team until the board is in motion.

Extremely important development

The final constitution for the establishment of USA cricket was approved on December 18th. “This is an extremely important development and I would like to thank the Advisory Group for their enormous contribution to the development of this constitution.” ICC chief executive David Richardson said in a press release.

“They have led a process that has been incredibly thorough and we think they have developed a best practice Constitution that gives the new national governing body in USA the best possible chance of success.”

Bearing in mind the size of the country, a good governance infrastructure is to be created that represents the cricket community of USA. The expelled cricket body has had numerous governance issues for the past few years. Mounting debts crossing $4 million resulted in various tournaments and national camps being postponed or cancelled. The final nail in the coffin was when the ICC had proposed term limits for board members and reduced powers for the executives, all of which were not ratified by the USACA.

As per the new constitution, changes can be made only with a two-thirds majority from the wider membership. Another major issue with USACA was the one person was allowed to run for multiple positions on the board. This provision has not been included in the new constitution.

The elections for posts in the USA cricket board will be held in January and members are expected to be seated by April. Since a major chunk of the cricketing community are non-citizcens, anyone who is a US citizen, a permanent or a lawful resident is allowed to vote.

“This is an excellent constitution that reflects the disuversity and strength of the USA cricket community.” Said Jagan Jagannathan who served as the board chairman of the America Cricket Foundation.