USACA National Championship: USA's first major step to make it to 2019 ICC World Cup

The Asian diaspora is helping cricket’s progress in the USA

The United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) has left no stones unturned to make the ongoing USACA Twenty 20 National Championship, currently underway at Florida, as one of the country’s biggest sporting events.

Cricket is a hugely popular sport in the commonwealth countries that include India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and others. In the US, however, the sport wasn’t well-received so far; with the entry of Asian and commonwealth countries’ diasporas, however, it is now becoming selling itself at a rapid pace here.

The T20 championship is a three-day event (August 14-16) between eight senior regional teams, two groups of 4 teams each clashing against each other, at Lauderhill in Florida. This might be a regional sporting event like the Ranji Trophy of India or the County Cricket of England, but players’ performances will definitely be taken seriously while arriving at the 14-man USA national cricket team squad, which will take part in the upcoming 50-over ODI (ICC WCL Division Three) matches to be held later this year in Uganda.

The last time these teams fought against each year was in the year 2011 at New Jersey. The major controversy that broke out that time was the relatively inferior ground (with improper fielding conditions) where the said event took place. This time, though, the situation has improved a lot. The USACA has allotted its only International Cricket Council (ICC)-approved One Day International stadium for the purpose of making this a grand event. The budding cricketers have an enormous opportunity now to showcase their talents.

Few key players are missing from the tournament including Sushil Nadkarni, Ryan Corns, Orlando Baker among others. Injuries to a few and loss of form to others have prevented them from being picked in the team. The known names to participate in the event are New York batsmen Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah (Captain), Central West captain Usman Shuja and South West vice-captain Aditya Thyagarajan.

Florida is baking with high temperature of around 35+ degree Celsius and humidity touching approximately 40 degree; this definitely doesn’t seem to go well with the players who are not used to such high temperatures.

Group winners will move to the next level of semi-finals and so on. The USACA has decided to grant each region four matches on the weekend, and some teams might play a few more T20 matches within the three days or during the weekend allotted for the purpose. The final day-today, might witness three T20 matches. A total of 19 games had to be played in all.

The USACA National Championship will pave the way for the newer talents to move forward in their careers. If the US’ dream of participating in the ICC 2019 World Cup as a fully fledged team is to be fulfilled, then the players and selectors have to take each and every match seriously. Currently, the US has a few million cricket fans and is of the hope that this will be a golden opportunity for them to witness their heroes in action. Surrounded with heavy expectation and the USACA’s full preparation for the purpose, the question remains: can the cricket in US shine this time?