Far left Salman Ahmed & John Aaron. Centre: Lloyd Jodah. Far right: Bassett Thompson and Krish Prasad with an American College Cricket team.
In beautiful sunshine, surrounded by some of the best young Cricketers in the New York area at Baisley Pond Park in Queens, New York, American College Cricket President Lloyd Jodah, Vice President Nino DiLoreto and BIG League USA CEO Salman Ahmed announced that the two organizations had signed a strategic partnership.
ACC President Lloyd Jodah stated that ” this strategic partnership offers a complete range of components which will ensure that we continue the tremendous rate of progress we have been making with cricket in USA and Canadian Universities. Every College Cricketer that is a member of ACC can now not only dream BIG, but have a realistic expectation of getting more support and resources to accomplish those dreams.”
Salman Ahmed, CEO of BIG League USA said, “BIG League USA will support American College Cricket in the further development of College Cricket in the United States. We will provide an International platform for College Cricketers to perform and develop. Beginning with the ACC Regional Championships this Fall, a pool of talented players will be identified from which at least five will be sent to train abroad with International players in countries such as India, Australia, England, South Africa and Barbados.”
Nino DiLoreto, ACC Vice President added that, “this is a momentous occasion.” BIG League USA is an organization that manages some of the world’s best and emerging Cricket players. Their expertise in Sports Marketing, Player Management and Event Production is second to none.
Among the current projects that BIG League USA is involved are events planned at the only ICC Cricket Certified Stadium in North America at the Central Broward Regional Park, an October 2010 launch of a line of Cricket Merchandise and Equipment called “American Dream of Cricket”. The flagship “BIG Cricket Store” will be located in Queens, New York. A wide range of other Cricket goods from manufacturers like Adidas, Nike, Puma, Gray Nicolls, Gun & Moore, Slazenger, Kookaboora, MB Malik, CA, SS, SF among others.”
On hand for the announcement were ACC Advisory Board Members Krish Prasad and John Aaron, NYC PSAL (High School) Cricket League Commissioner Bassett Thompson and Chairman of the USA selectors and former West Indies Test Player Sew Shivnarine.
Among the student athletes present were Adrian Gordon (NYU-Poly), Romel Somavat (Ohio State U.), Shaan Mehta (George Washington U) Ankit Pandya, Parth Shah and Sapan Sharma ( Rutgers U.), Mohammed Suleman, Hugo D’Oliveira, Yasneen Khan, Shames Rahman, and Bilal Shahid (York College), Regis Burton (SUNY) and Chad Munroe (UCONN).
American College Cricket’s growth has made the New York Times, front page of the Sunday Washington Post, NY Daily News, Voice of America, Sports Illustrated, Canada’s top newspaper the “Globe and Mail”, Sun Sentinel, ESPN CRICINFO and the ICC Film “Cricket in America”.
The 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship for the Chanderpaul Trophy, had 20 teams and 47 games played in 5 days – the largest cricket tournament ever in the world. The live webcast of the Semis and Finals was the first major video broadcast of any USA domestic cricket, and got a viewership of thousands.