CRICKET administration in the United States is finally settling down after decades of turmoil under new chairman Venu Pisike.
The Indian-born Pisike was appointed in July 2023 as chairman of the board after he won the confidence of the cricket stakeholders in America. He has been a board member since 2018 and came quickly through the ranks because of his diligent work. With the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup to be held in America and the West Indies this year Pisike has his hands full but is confident that the event will be a success. “We are excited for the opportunity to co-host one of the prestigious World Cups in sports. T20 Cricket suits well for the American sports culture and hosting the high-calibre World Cup games will certainly boost the spread of the game. It is a great opportunity in many ways for both USA Cricket and to the entire cricket community in the world to build the next big cricket market.”
Before hosting that World Cup though, the USA will have their under-19 team participate at the 2024 ICC Under19 World Cup in South Africa. Recently Pisike sent his team to Trinidad to prepare for the World Cup, by having them play warm-up matches against the West Indies U-19 team and the TT U-23 team.
“TT is our natural partner for cricket. We are happy to establish our relationships and thankful to TT for their support to our U-19 World Cup preparations and looking forward to a long-term relationship to extend the support to each other.”
Pisike has already met with nearly all stakeholders in American cricket and will be looking for their assistance to achieve his short, medium and long-term plan. “Our goal by the end of 2023 is to stabilise the governance and operations of the board. We are looking at constitutional amendments to address the grey areas and gaps. We are nearly finished developing a five-year strategy (2024-28) and building a simplified membership system. We also intend to resolve the ambiguity and complications of our commercial contracts.”
For the medium term which will take them to the end of 2024, Pisike said the goal is to create domestic pathways for players and officials, implement the grass root development program, build trust and increase membership, bring on stream high-performance programmes for both men and women and create private and government partnerships to develop infrastructure.
The long-term goal which has been set out for the period 2028 to 2030 includes taking both the men’s and women’s teams up the ICC rankings. Bring on board sufficient infrastructure to support the domestic demand, improve the ability to host ICC events and ensure that cricket becomes one of the popular sports in the USA.
Part of the long-term plan is to also become an ICC Full Member and also a member of the US Olympic Committee.
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