Following the suspension of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) last year, the third in the beleaguered history of the association, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been busy in the air and on the ground in USA cricket.
Following the establishment of a Local Advisory Group (LAG) comprising a handful of cricket stakeholders, former USA players and individuals from other sporting associations, the ICC held several Town Hall style meetings across the USA. The LAG was tasked with assessing the cricket landscape and proposing a way forward for the unification of cricket in the USA.
No doubt, as a result of the LAG and the ICC’s desire to help the USA become a major player on the international cricket scene, the ICC recently established four groups from among those responding to invitations to work on advisory committees in the areas of Sustainable Foundation, Participation, Performance, and Fan and Market Development. In the interim, the ICC has been successfully conducting cricket Combines for Men, Women and Under 17 cricketers across the nation.
Last weekend, the Sustainable Foundation advisory group charged with drafting a structural framework for a constitution and foundation of a new national governing body, met in Colorado Springs, CO. The 10-member advisory group has begun working on such a structure and will no doubt present its recommendations to the ICC, for review. A statement released earlier this week by the ICC Head of Global Development Tim Anderson, stated.
In recent months many important cricket related activities (i.e. the USA Cricket Combines) and announcements (i.e. the Caribbean Premier League matches in Florida) have taken place in-line with the USA Cricket Strategic Planning Framework that was agreed late last year. We will shortly be providing a comprehensive summary of all cricket activity that the ICC has been able to facilitate in the USA with the support of the cricket community over the past twelve months.
The focus of the past couple of days has, however, been on the important Sustainable Foundation pillar of the strategic framework. For reference, this pillar aims to:
Implement our strategy through a unified governance and administration structure that acts in the national interest, develops successful partnerships and generates funds to drive cricket’s development. Our partners include the USA cricket community, government agencies, commercial partners, donors, media, the US Olympic Committee and the USA sports community.
1. USA Cricket Advisory Group (Sustainable Foundation)
A meeting of the USA Cricket Advisory Group (Sustainable Foundation) was held on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June. This volunteer group, together with three other volunteer groups focusing on Participation, Performance and Fan& Market Development, were established following a recent public application process. All groups include a broad representation of USA cricket stakeholders.
The Sustainable Foundation group, consisting of 10 representatives of the cricket community, has been tasked with assisting the development of a future governance structure, constitution and underlying policies for cricket in the USA. This meeting being the first step in that process. The meeting was also attended by ICC CEO David Richardson, ICC COO and General Counsel, Iain Higgins, and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Head of Paralympic Sport and NGB Organizational Development, Rick Adams.
Many different governance structures were considered during the two-day workshop, and significant progress was made towards reaching agreement for a number of fundamental principles which will best serve the primary objective of unifying the USA cricket community. Further work will be required in order to complete this exercise over the coming weeks/months, and further updates will be provided, as the proposed model and supporting documents are prepared.
Under the terms of the Reinstatement Conditions (pursuant to which USACA’s membership of the ICC remains suspended), it is envisaged that the revised governance structure which carries the support of the wider US cricket community and the ICC, and which is compliant with USOC requirements and best practice in the USA, would need to be adopted by USACA no later than 15 December 2016.
2. ICC Americas Office move to Colorado Springs
A function to welcome the ICC Americas office to Colorado Springs was hosted by the El Pomar Foundation on Saturday 4 June. Dignitaries in attendance included the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of El Pomar, Bill Hybl, the CEO of the USOC, Scott Blackmun and the CEO of the ICC, David Richardson. Representatives from local government, several Colorado Springs based US sport National Governing Bodies and the Colorado Springs Cricket Club were also in attendance, as were representatives of the ICC Americas office and the wider USA cricket community.
We are very excited to be moving our regional office to the center of American sports administration, and this function confirmed that cricket is entering a sports loving community that is also excited about welcoming the world’s second most popular sport into its family.
It is likely that the ICC Americas office will commence operations in Colorado Springs in July/August.
3. ICC Americas USA specific staff
Following public application processes, interviews of short-listed candidates for the positions of ICC Americas – USA Project Manager and ICC Americas – USA Project Officer were conducted on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 June. I’m pleased to report that a very strong group of individuals were interviewed, with announcements regarding the successful candidates to be made shortly.
Much progress has been made in recent days in starting to develop a Sustainable Foundation for cricket in the USA. We are excited by this progress, which, in addition to your ongoing support, is critical to continuing the positive momentum that has recently been developed.
