Your friend and mine, Peter Della Penna from Cricinfo, has the latest from the USA: “The West Indies Cricket Board and the ICC have teamed up to recruit former USA Cricket Association member leagues in an effort to get them to leave the rival American Cricket Federation and rejoin USACA.
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ESPNcricinfo understands that the ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Ben Kavenagh and WICB President Dave Cameron have contacted at least five leagues to convince them to return to USACA.
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(Asked about the phone calls, ACF President Jamie Harrison responded): ‘When I heard that the West Indies Cricket Board would be helping USACA with its massive governance issues, I assumed that Cameron would be giving them the benefit of wisdom in how to run a highly effective cricket governing body. I thought that maybe he’d be flying Gladstone Dainty to Jamaica so that he could personally mentor him. I never expected him to become a phone solicitor, making cold calls on Americans.'” Go home, USACA, you’re drunk.
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On Twitter, fellow cricket blogger Devanshu asked President Cameron some rather pointed questions. To his credit, Cameron responded. Unfortunately, his answers made little sense and simply served to show his misunderstanding of all things hashtag:
@dbackwardpoint If the West Indies does not get involved to try and solve it. Who will? Just trying to make things #better for all.
— President Cameron (@davec51) August 5, 2014
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Elsewhere, India promised its women’s captain a house, and then didn’t deliver. From The Hindu: “‘It is a pity that women cricketers are not a respected lot in this country. Fed up with the treatment on the house site subject, I have stopped thinking about it,’ sighs 31-year-old Mithali, all geared up for the England tour next month. The only cash incentive she received was Rs.5 lakh, more than 12 years ago when N. Chandrababu Naidu was the Chief Minister. A mainstay of Indian women’s cricket including a world record for the highest individual score of 214 in a Test match, Mithali is hoping for a clear cut sports policy by the Telangana Government with proper guidelines to reward top sports performances.”
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Trent Johnson, the former Ireland captain and current women’s team coach, will be heading back to Australia as an assistant coach with domestic side New South Wales. Cricinfo quotes Johnson as saying: “It’s a wonderful opportunity for myself and my family and one that I simply can’t pass up. I didn’t go looking for the switch but now that’s it’s happened, I’m relishing the challenge and looking forward to what I suppose is a homecoming for me, having started my cricket career at NSW what seems like a lifetime ago.” So you can go home again.
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Johnson’s last three games in charge of the Ireland Women will be against South Africa this September. (via Cricket Country.)
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The Hindustan Times has the story of two cricketing brothers who put down the pads to go serve in the Isreali army. “In this dance of death, there is an Indian connect, a tale of two young men, who insist duty to their adopted nation comes first but hope things will calm down soon so that they can swap the army gear for cricket attire.
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The Waskar brothers, Shifron and elder sibling Ronen, were preparing for Israel’s domestic cricket league when fighting erupted. Their father, Raymond, who migrated with his family from Mumbai in the 1990s, is a cricket umpire.
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Shifron, 20, is a pace bowler in the national team, but swing and seam will have to wait. Right now, he is stationed deep inside Gaza. Ronen too is in the army — he is a sergeant — and plays for Israel, but has also been called up by the army.”
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