United States of America Cricket Academy team during their tour of India with head coach Linden Fraser.
Tour of India
By Sandipan Banerjee
The USA Cricket Academy is the lone International Cricket Council (ICC) and USA Cricket Association (USACA) recognized cricket academy in America. Recently its U-17 and U-19 teams were in India to prepare for the upcoming Under-19 World Cup qualifier. CricketCountry’s Sandipan Banerjee recently spent a day in the company of the young American cricketers and unearthed an untold tale.
A birthday cake shaped like a bat, with everyone cheering around it, egging on the birthday boy to aim for the ‘Sweet Spot’ with the knife. Thirty-four teenagers, eating, drinking, sleeping and playing cricket in various parts of Gujarat for two weeks, and conversing in cricket jargon. Most interestingly, they are all ambassadors of American cricket.
Cricket is a developing sport in USA. According to some estimates, it is the home of approximately 200,000 weekend cricketers and 15 million fans. The game is spreading its wings slowly but steadily and metamorphosing from the status of a weekend sport to a professional setup. Most importantly, apart from appealing to the immigrants from cricket playing nations, the sport has piqued the interest of the archetypal baseball-fanatic country. And the USA Cricket Academy is the organization that is making this happen.
Rahul Sharma (left), United States of America Cricket Academy Global Operations Manager talks to the media.
The Los Angeles-based academy was established in 1999 by the late Purshottam Patel. His dream was to spread the sport across the nation. He wanted to see USA-born cricketers representing the country at international cricket. At present the USA Cricket Academy is probably the best in the business; it helps that it also has the official recognition of USACA and the ICC. Ashok Patel, son of Purshottam, is currently pursuing the fulfillment of his father’s dream.
Since its inception, the academy has only dealt with the growth of youth cricket, as a way of strengthening the base. The USA Cricket Academy won the ICC Global Award in 2003 for their efforts in developing the sport at the grass-roots level. One of the main features of the USA Cricket Academy is to conduct international tours for the youngsters with the aim to expose them to different kinds of pitches. For the Under-17 and Under-19 cricketers, this will be a huge opportunity to learn the nuances. In their recent tour the Under-17 and Under-19 teams came to India for an 18-day trip in December 2014. This gave CricketCountry an opportunity to mingle with the contingent and observe their approach toward the sport.
The tour was a preparation event for the much-anticipated July 2015 ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Bermuda. It provided an opportunity for the young guns to brush up on their skills and gain valuable experience and confidence, through match practice on turf wickets; a rarity in the USA.
Discussing the culture of cricket in America, Rahul Sharma, the Global Operations Manager of the USA Cricket Academy, said, “Cricket is the next big thing over there, especially after the introduction of the Twenty20 format. It has attracted many people. Give it some time, and cricket will find a new destination in America.”
An international tour is a huge learning curve for any young cricketer, and the initiative has to be appreciated. A smiling Rahul said, “We want to provide more playing and learning opportunities to our talented players in different conditions around the world. That’s why we conduct these tours. This is probably the 12th or 13th tour we are organizing since we started the journey of this Academy. Keeping in mind the turning tracks of Bermuda for the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier later this year, we decided to tour India. So far, I feel it has been an excellent choice. Before the Bermuda event we will arrange another tour, probably to Guyana.”
Players looks on keenly as former India test player Anshuman Gaekwad autograph a bat.
“Funding for these tours has been a concern. But thanks to some sponsors and some generous parents, we have managed. Apart from the financial help, we always receive a warm reception whenever we tour India. The Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) provided us with all kinds of support. They have arranged for good teams to play against us and have provided Ranji Trophy grounds on which to play the matches. We are really thankful to the GCA and the Gujarat government,” Rahul added.
Hitesh Patel, the former joint secretary of GCA was the manager of the Indian national team when Virat Kohli lifted the Under-19 World Cup in 2007. Patel looked after the proceedings on behalf of the State association. He just laid the carpet for Rahul and company to give his boys the maximum exposure.
“This is a good initiative by the USA Cricket Academy to tour Gujarat. These young cricketers will learn a lot from these kinds of tours. We just wanted to provide them with the maximum help,” Patel said.
Amongst the 34 young cricketers on the tour, many have only played cricket on matting wickets, barring semi-pros like Derick Narine, Sagar Patel, Guranshu Sharma, and Sahil Patel. Narine is a 17 year old Guyanese cricketer, who has played alongside pros Devendra Bishoo, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, and Kevon Cooper, and was probably the best cricketer on show on the tour. USA national selector Wesley King and USACA head coach Linden Fraser (a former Guyanese fast bowler) rates him quite highly. He scored two centuries on the tour, took important wickets and has looked very promising. However, he is yet to represent the USA.
USA Cricket Academy visited the Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Sarvajivhitavah facility.
Top order batsmen Sagar and Guranshu, and off-spinner Sahil have played for the USA in age group cricket, and are expected to play key roles in the upcoming Under-19 World Cup Qualifiers. King has high hopes for Narine and Sahil. At the moment, however, he wanted the boys to focus on their games.
The contingent also had someone else who has worked diligently for the development of USA cricket throughout his life. JP Singh, the 68-year old former Guyanese military man, is the ‘discipline coach’ of the squads. Singh is the co-founder of the USA Cricket Academy and a father figure of sorts in New York cricket. He has helped to introduce cricket into the sports curriculum of at least 30 New York City schools. According to him, the sport has already attracted the kids and their parents. In the near future, cricket is expected to make its mark not only in New York, but in the entire USA.
There are still a few odds and ends that American cricket has to overcome. William Perkins, who has played for the West Indies Under-19s, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinidad & Tobago, is a USA Cricket Academy product, however, the lack of a professional league in the USA made him shift his base to the Caribbean. If the USA wants to develop their cricket they should aim to preserve talents like him and Narine, otherwise the commendable work done by the USA Cricket Academy will go down the drain.
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket, he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
The above article is reproduced with permission from cricketcountry.com