USACA Media Release
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Long time servant of United States Cricket, Steve Massiah has announced today that he will relinquish the captaincy of the US National Men’s team effective immediately. Massiah (34) has been a member of the US cricket team since 2000 and captain since 2006.
Steve Massiah has led the USA since 2006. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
After moving to the USA from Guyana in the West Indies, Steve has had a distinguished career for the USA having played in the ICC 6 Nations Challenge in the United Arab Emirates in 2004. He made his first-class debut the same year when he played ICC Intercontinental Cup matches against Canada and Bermuda. In between the two matches, he played in the Americas Championship in Bermuda. He played his two ODIs the same year, playing in the ICC Champions Trophy against New Zealand and Australia.
He next represented the USA in the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland. After warm-up matches against the Northern Cricket Union President’s XI and Namibia he played six matches in the tournament proper. He scored 108 not out against Uganda, his highest List A score. He captained the USA for the first time the next year in the ICC Americas Championship tournament in Ontario.
Speaking from New York today, Massiah explained his decision to step down from the role of US captain;
“As the preparation for the ICC T20 Qualifier begins in earnest over the coming weeks, I wanted to give myself the very best opportunity of being selected and to positively contribute to our campaign. T20 is a very demanding game both physically and mentally and you need to be at your best for every ball. In recent months I have found myself thinking that it was time for a change at the top; for a new voice to lead our team.
I have been honored and humbled to serve as National captain. At this time, I extend my most sincere gratitude and thanks to the Selection Committee, coaches, administration and team mates for their continued support and trust through the years. I feel that now is the time for someone else to take up the reins and for me to focus on doing the very best that I can to perform in this all important tournament. I don’t have to be captain to make a positive contribution to the team.
If the guys can play well and quality for the ICC T20 World Cup that would be the pinnacle of my career and I am 100% focused on achieving that goal. I want to give myself very opportunity to be part of the team that goes to Dubai and if I am selected, to ensure that I am fully focused on batting well and assisting the young guys to achieve our dream of reaching the T20 World Cup.”
USACA President, Mr. Gladstone Dainty was glowing in his praise of Massiah’s service to US cricket;
“Steve has been an excellent servant of US cricket for many years now. He has reached a time in his career and in his life where he understands that he can still contribute to the team, but in a different form.
He is transitioning his energies to be a mentor of some of the emerging talent in our team, rather than shouldering all of the responsibility of captaincy at the international level.
By relinquishing the captaincy, I hope that this will free Steve up as it has with other captains who have made similar difficult decisions, but gone on to make positive contributions to their teams. I look forward to his continued positive contribution to the team and to the work that he will do imparting his knowledge and experience to the younger players”.
The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) will now begin to consider its leadership of the team to compete in the ICC T20 Qualifier and the final fifteen (15) players that will comprise the team. The National US Men’s team will be announced on October 15th before heading into a training camp in Fort Lauderdale on October 18th.
The dates of the ICC T20 Qualifier are November 15th to 30th 2013 and will be staged in the UAE. The ICC T20 Qualifier is the final qualification event prior to the ICC T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2014.
