America Number One In Americas Region

By Orin Davidson
Our senior cricket team crashed to a surprisingly heavy defeat to Canada which robbed them of the Americas Cup title last Sunday.

It was not the end of the world though.

Rather the loss to our arch rivals was just one stumble in an otherwise excellent display by the new-look team in a competition comprising two of the five World Cup 2007 qualifying teams.

It meant that a victory over Canada would’ve crowned us new Americas Cup champions, because we dominated the opposition in the first three games.

Nevertheless, we can take pleasure from the team’s second place finish, behind Bermuda who were saved by the rain when they faced America, one day before the back-to- back clash with Canada.

Victory over Canada would’ve iced the cake, but there is solace from the fact we beat them in the overall title race.

Our success in Canada added to a wonderful sequence of results by our national teams within the last 12 months.

Just this past week, the Under-15 squad outplayed teams from Canada, Bermuda and a Rest of Americas side in that age group’s version of the Americas Cup.

According to reports our team played unbeaten in a truncated version of the competition that was cut short by weather related issues caused by hurricane Ernesto.

But the fact that our youngsters shrugged off the hiccups to win both their games in the 20 overs and 15 overs encounters, made us unofficial champions which capped the wonderful display by our national teams in the last 12 months.

Last July our Under-19 squad started the brilliant sequence by overcoming great odds to upset Canada and Bermuda among others to bring home the Americas title.

It means we have completed the Americas Cup circuit with two wins and a second place finish from three competitions.

Coming from a country with limited financing it is a major accomplishment, considering the expense required to organize cricket activities in this country.

The fact is that the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) has been in turmoil for the last two years and for our teams to end with the best record of all others in the Americas, makes a strong statement about the natural ability of the players here.

Compare our situation to Canada, which is receiving heavy funding from governmental and private sources and Bermuda which also gets high level assistance from its government, the magnitude of the effort here being made here is obvious.

The key to America’s success has been the ability of our scouts to identify players and expose them.

Hats off to all those hard working coaches and officials who give freely of their time and energy.

Also to all the many sponsors who pump cash into competitions like the Ahmad Cup, club and regional competitions.

It is now left to our selectors to go the extra mile to ensure we are strongest every time our national teams take the field.
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