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USA will not host 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Four. Nepal may get Chance to Host Div 4



In a major blow to USA’s viabilityas a suitable host for top flight cricket, the ICC confirmed on Thursday thatthe country is no longer being considered to host this year’s ICC World CricketLeague Division Four tournament. The event is scheduled to include Denmark, Nepal,Tanzania, USA and the top two sides from 2012 ICC WCLDivision Five, which begins Saturday in Singapore. The sides gunning forpromotion from that event are Argentina,Bahrain, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Malaysiaand the host nation.

According to an email froman ICC spokesperson, “The United States was one of the venues being evaluatedfor hosting the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4 but, as with any ICCevent, it was dependent on the potential hosting nations being able to meet aseries of ICC criteria. Following discussions with USACA it was decided thatthe United Statescurrently cannot meet those criteria and therefore will not be considered as ahost for the event.”
When asked what criteriaUSACA failed to meet, the ICC spokesperson responded that a host country “isrequired to give a number of cricketing, operational and administrativeassurances” but the spokesperson would not comment on which aspects USACA couldnot follow through. It is believed that USACA’s current administrative andgovernance issues, specifically the failure to hold constitutionally mandatedelections in 2011, may have played a role in the ICC looking elsewhere for ahost site for Division Four. According to the 2012 USACA calendar of eventsreleased on December 9, USAand Nepalwere being considered by the ICC to host the event.
During a meeting with ICCPresident Sharad Pawar in New York lastsummer, former USACA Secretary John Aaron had campaigned for USA to host2012 ICC WCL Division Four. This past autumn, USACA General Manager ManafMohamed sounded confident that USA would be selected to host the event and heexpected the ICC to make a decision by November to confirm USA as the host, butno confirmation was ever made public by either USACA or the ICC.
The fact that USA has beenpassed over to host the tournament, after seemingly being in the driver’s seatfor the opportunity, speaks volumes of how poor USACA’s current relationship iswith the ICC. The relationship certainly did not improve this past autumn whenUSACA failed to meet several administrative deadlines laid out by the ICC inconjunction with the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh. Itresulted in a sternly worded letter from ICC Americas Regional DevelopmentManager Martin Vieira to admonish USACA for failing to properly communicatewith the ICC and for its handling of a standoff between the USACA board andwomen’s players over proposed tour stipends.
One of the major componentsto hosting a higher level WCL event is having at least three turf facilitieswithin close proximity to each other. There are three turf facilities in the Fort Lauderdale area – CentralBroward RegionalPark, BrianPiccolo Parkand Boca Raton CC – as well as three separate turf pitches at Woodley Parkin Los Angeles so the USA would not have failed from thatstandpoint. There is also adequate infrastructure off the field in order tohost teams, such as hotels within close proximity to the grounds, as well assuitable internet network capabilities at the grounds to meet mediarequirements. As recently as July, USAhosted the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament in Floridawhile USAalso hosted the ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament last February.
If Nepal now has the inside track to host theevent, it will be much more difficult for USA to gain promotion back toDivision Three. In the current WCL cycle which began in 2009, eight out of 10host countries have finished first or second in tournament play. The only twowho didn’t were the Netherlandsat Division One in 2010, a tournament in which there was no promotion orrelegation at stake, and Botswanaat Division Seven in 2011.
While USA gained promotion from the Division Fivetournament staged in Nepalin 2010, finishing in the top two again in Kathmanduwon’t be easy. In addition to a young and energetic Nepalside, USA will also have tocontend with a Denmark teamthat took two out of two matches against USAat Division Three in Hong Kong last year.Depending on the results of Division Five next week, there is a strong chance USA may have to go up against a very solid Singapore teamas well. Singapore beat USA convincingly by 99 runs in Nepal two years ago and would have advanced toDivision Four in Italy with USA were it not for the unfortunate crowdtrouble on the final day of group play in Kathmandu.
Nepal’s crowds, while enthusiastic, have a track record ofvolatile behavior. Crowd violence marred USA’swin against the hosts in Kathmandu at Division Five in February of 2010and there was a report of more crowd trouble at the same venue forlast December’s ACC Twenty20 Cup match between the UAE and Nepal. Despitethis, they may get a chance to host a World Cricket League tournament for thesecond time in just over two years. Tanzania hosted WCL Division Four in 2008while other potential participants for the next Division Four – Guernsey,Argentina, Singapore, Malaysia – have also hosted WCL tournaments in the past.Meanwhile, the USAhas yet to host one.
Former USACA CEO DonLockerbie stated during an interview while traveling with the USAteam in Nepal in February of 2010 that he hoped USA would get a chance to hosta major ICC event in the near future, such as the Champions Trophy in 2013 –which was eventually awarded to England and Wales – in order to build a biggerprofile for the USA on the global cricket stage. However, if USA is beingpassed over to host a World Cricket League tournament, thoughts of hosting aChampions Trophy or World Cup are a pipe dream and it must also cast doubt onplans between New Zealand Cricket and USACA to start up an IPL-style Twenty20league this summer.

 

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