By Orin Davidson
Dec. 12th, 2008
Imran Khan, manager of the United States cricket team feels the issue of owed money to the players is being blown out of proportion.

Reacting to complaints by leading players Orlando Baker and Carl Wright of foot- dragging by the authorities to fully compensate the team, Khan said the only money owed is a bonus reward, promised after the U.S. won the Americas Cup.

“The information reported is inaccurate, said Khan in reference to the newyorkcricket.com report which carried Baker’s and Wright’s side of the story.

Khan pointed out that the team was paid the training allowances, that are normally provided to teams, for the Americas Cup held in Florida and WICB Cup staged prior in Guyana.

“There was no issue of money not being paid that was promised specifically for the two competitions, the first time manager said.

He explained that the bonus prize money was not budgeted for before the two back- to- back series, as it was only promised to the team if their won the Americas Cup, midway during the competition.

Khan added that bonus prize was acquired after the series ended and will be mailed to the players early next week.

“The players were paid whatever money was available and it is not that any promise made before the competition, was not being kept,” said Khan who managed the team for both competitions.

The manager agreed that the training allowance amount revealed by Baker and Wright of $1000 for each player for the two competitions was accurate, stressing that the United States of America cricket Association is not well off, and can only pay what is affordable.

And team captain Steve Massiah stated on Thursday that the bonus promised is $1000 each.

Wright and Baker, who seemed unaware that it was only bonus money that was outstanding, had stated they were promised the owed amount by last Friday by USACA vice president Munaff Mohammed. And they went public after the date passed and their subsequent phone calls to the official went unanswered.

Khan pointed out that he was not privy to the operations of USACA, stating he only got involved in U.S. cricket within the last year, after managing the Northern California team to the Western Conference title this year

“From what I understand, there is not much money in the association, and they are only getting by with whatever little they have.”

He said the team did exceptionally well in the circumstances though, by winning all their matches, including victories over favorites Bermuda and Canada, en-route to a five-victory romp to claim the Americas Cup crown.

Send your comment
Orin Davidson Column Homepage