US cricket continues its backwards slide

Nine days ago there was a meeting in Dallas which was vital to the future of cricket in the USA. Coming at the end of a year of bitter infighting which has left the game's reputation in the US in tatters overseas, some would argue it was the most important meeting in the USA Cricket Association's history. And yet, almost nobody turned up.

In fact, so few people attended that it was not possible to achieve anything of value as there were insufficient numbers to make up a quorum. In June, when the Council of League Presidents appeared to be mounting a serious challenge to the ruling USACA executive, about 70 people representing clubs across the country attended a similar Extraordinary General Meeting. So why the apathy this time round?

Well, perhaps apathy is not the right word. Despite claims to the contrary, it looks as if the USACA made what can politely be described as a half-hearted attempt to advertise the EGM. Its own website failed to even flag that it was taking place, and although officials claims that leagues were notified, it does not seem that anyone in the clubs that actually make up the USACA were. Cricinfo had to dig hard to find out the details, and even then we were only able to establish the exact location of the meeting a month after it was formalized.

The USACA has undertaken what I assume to be a deliberate policy of silence for almost a year. No events or explanations have been made to stakeholders, all information has had to come from third parties, and the board has been, in my view, utterly incompetent in its responsibilities to keep its own members informed.

In this day and age, a website is the first source of disseminating information, as well as the quickest and cheapest. The USACA claims that it has been having trouble with the site. Earlier in the year it said the URL had been "hijacked". But the refusal to maintain what most small clubs would accept as a decent site has been atypical of the board's reluctance - almost refusal - to share information. Anyone who runs a website would attest to the ease of adding a few basic details. Indeed, the USACA managed to update other information in the meantime. But the EGM was not deemed important enough. And, nine days on, there is not even a brief resume of what happened - or rather, didn't happen.

I thought hard about why this would be the case, and the only conclusion I can draw is that the USACA did not want anyone there. I am still not sure why, but perhaps the lack of any probing questions suited it.

And that raised another question. What happened to the CLP rebellion. That the two parties got tied up in legal red tape in well documented, and that they reached a compromise is also fact. But was that arrangement for the good of the game, or was it that both sides realised that it could all get rather expensive. Rumours abound that the payment of legal fees are being bitterly disputed. It is also unclear who will pay the USACA's share of the bill.

What is certain is that this has hammered another nail in the coffin of US cricket. Internationally, the reaction among the dwindling numbers who still care has been one of bewilderment that so few cared about such a meeting. The ICC is unlikely to have been remotely impressed. Its opinion of the Gladstone Dainty-led executive is common knowledge, and while Dainty and his supporters might have won the battle to remain in charge, that will have done nothing to thaw the ice-cold relations between them and the international community. Funding remains suspended, US cricket remains a pariah.

Back to Dallas. Those who were at the meeting - and there weren't even enough directors to enable a board meeting to be held - say that there were useful discussions. So useful that the USACA has not let anyone know what happened. But whatever was mulled over, nothing agreed was binding and, given the USACA's track record, there must be grave suspicions that talk will not result in actions.

A year which started badly is ending with the situation in a bigger mess than ever, and no sign of any solution on the horizon. With the CLP silenced, it is hard to see where the next challenge will come from, although the progress of Major League Cricket offers a glimmer of hope. But Bernard Cameron's operation, well-run and professional though it is, will always be on the periphery unless someone can break the stranglehold which is gradually throttling the life out of US cricket.