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The feud between the USA Cricket Association and the American Cricket Federation has taken a new twist, as both governing bodies have been asked to supply letters of allegiance from their members to the ICC

Peter Della Penna25-Apr-2014The feud between the USA Cricket Association and the American Cricket Federation has taken a new twist, as both governing bodies have been asked to supply letters of allegiance from their members to the ICC.The ACF was created out of the ashes of the 2012 USACA election and their membership has grown to the point where they formally sought recognition in February from the ICC as a national governing body.Since 2012, there has been a lack of clarity between the number of leagues the USACA has claimed to be its members, and those which actually are, particularly with respect to those who haven’t paid annual membership dues to USACA in the last three years. The ICC’s request for USACA and ACF to supply confirmation letters could play a deciding factor in the ongoing dispute in order to decide which body is legitimately in control of cricket in the USA. Having two national governing bodies could potentially result in an ICC suspension for the USA, a fate that occurred in both 2005 and 2007.According to the recently-released minutes from USACA’s last board meeting on March 23, ICC president Alan Isaac sent a letter dated March 11 to USACA president Gladstone Dainty requesting updated information on a series of topics including USACA’s current membership. USACA board member John Thickett sent a notice to all USACA member leagues requesting them to provide a letter to USACA chief executive Darren Beazley, to pass on to the ICC, in which the USACA member leagues confirm USACA as the sole governing body for cricket in the USA.ESPNcricinfo has obtained communication from an ACF member league in which ACF chief executive Jamie Harrison reached out to ACF members on March 29, asking for each ACF league to supply a similar letter confirming ACF as the governing body for cricket in the USA.”As part of the process by which a new national governing body will be certified for the United States, the ICC has requested that each ACF member league submit a letter asserting that it recognizes the ACF as the USA’s national governing body,” Harrison wrote to his members.The communication is an indication that the ICC is willing to step in to mediate the dispute that is growing between the two factions. USACA is currently the ICC recognized governing body for cricket in the USA, but the ACF has grown considerably in the last 12 months as more and more member leagues have left USACA to join the upstart ACF. This includes America’s largest league, the 72-team Commonwealth Cricket League in New York City.USACA continues to claim on its website that it has 52 member leagues, but those figures are dated 2012, before USACA disenfranchised 32 member leagues ahead of the 2012 election. A dozen of those leagues have since joined ACF while many others have stopped paying membership fees to USACA. Seven leagues that were not previously affiliated with USACA have also joined the ACF.A separate layer also exists with leagues like the Southern California Cricket Association, which has hedged its bets by paying membership fees to both organizations while the dispute over national governing body superiority is ironed out. SCCA hosted the inaugural ACF National Championship in 2012, but has still maintained USACA membership in an effort to allow their star players to remain eligible for selection to the USA national team.

Sean Ervine made the best of a placid Canterbury pitch to ease Hampshire into the driving seat on the opening day of their Championship Division Two clash with Kent

Press Association15-Aug-2014
ScorecardSean Ervine’s unbeaten 75 helped resurrect the Hampshire innings•Getty ImagesSean Ervine made the best of a placid Canterbury pitch to ease Hampshire into the driving seat on the opening day of their Championship Division Two clash with Kent.The 31-year-old Zimbabwean scored an unbeaten 75 from 110 balls to resurrect a Hampshire innings that, at 187 for 5, had threatened to seriously underachieve. With Chris Wood adding 61 from No. 8, the visitors recovered to reach 343 for 7 at the close.Kent marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I by using a 1914 half crown for the toss, which Hampshire won and chose to bat first. On a docile wicket the visiting opening pair of Jimmy Adams and Michael Carberry suffered little or no consternation in posting 71 for the first wicket.Carberry steered a couple of his seven boundaries down through third man off thick edges, but otherwise looked untroubled until the introduction of offspinner Adam Riley, who struck with his fourth ball. Looking to whip a length delivery through midwicket, Carberry missed and was sent packing lbw for 39 but, despite a short break for rain, Hampshire were still sitting pretty at lunch on 90 for 1.Kent regrouped in the interval and, with the first ball after the break, Mitch Claydon found the inside edge of Adams to dismiss the left-hander to an athletic take by wicketkeeper Sam Billings – the first of his four catches.Kent made further mid-session progress when Doug Bollinger had James Vince caught at the wicket when attempting a back-foot force then Will Smith, having reached a 108-ball 50 with eight fours, played around one from Riley to go leg-before. Without addition to the total Liam Dawson nicked another catch to Billings to make it 187 for 5 but Ervine, resolute and punishing when anything short was on offer, stroked six boundaries on his way to a 59-ball 50.Soon after posting their first batting bonus point Adam Wheater feathered one off Bollinger to give Billings another top catch and leave Kent believing they might polish the innings off in good time. Ervine had other ideas however, and he dug in together with Wood to add a workmanlike 124 for the seventh wicket inside 28.3 overs.Wood hit six fours in his 74-ball half-century in a responsible stay in tandem with Ervine that left Kent wondering where their next wicket may come from.It was veteran Darren Stevens who finally proved to be Kent’s partnership breaker having Wood snaffled at slip by Ben Harmison to bring in Matt Coles – the former Kent allrounder – to face the handful of nervy deliveries before the close. Though Coles failed to get off the mark, he survived through to stumps with Ervine to send their side into day two of the 163rd Canterbury Cricket Week fixture with power to add.

A pair of teenagers and a trio of New York Red Bulls headline Goal's selections as the best values, based on salary, in Major League Soccer

Salaries in Major League Soccer continue to rise, and have seen a considerable spike since the infusion of targeted allocation money in the past two seasons. That has led to a near doubling of the number of million-dollar salaries in the league, and a sizable jump in the number of players making more than $500,000.

That doesn't mean there still aren't some super-sized bargains to be had. Players signed via homegrown player deals and those who enter the league via the MLS draft continue to give MLS teams a steady stream of bargains, several of which make up the squad chosen by Goal to be part of the MLS Bargain XI, the best values in the league.

Here is the 2018 MLS Bargain XI, with salaries based on guaranteed compensation as released by the MLS players union last week .

Greg BartramGK Alex Bono, Toronto FC, $102,200The 24-year-old goalkeeper is in the midst of his second full season as Toronto FC's starter and is continuing to show improvement, building on his MLS Cup-winning 2017 season. His exploits in TFC's CONCACAF Champions League run turned heads, and he has also broken into the U.S. national team picture. Still playing on his rookie contract, Bono should be securing a new contract soon, assuming he doesn't head to Europe via transfer.AdvertisementRB Julian Gressel, Atlanta United, $111,250A midfielder who has thrived this season since being moved into a right wing-back role, Gressel has carried over the success from his MLS Rookie of the Year award-winning 2017 into the 2018 season. He has been one of the key reasons Tata Martino has seen his team enjoy such success playing in a 3-5-2 formation. The 24-year-old German-born standout should be drawing attention from scouts and will have a strong case for a new contract this winter.Mark J. RebilasCB Tim Parker, New York Red Bulls, $115,935How is Parker so underpaid? He's still playing on his original rookie contract, which expires at the end of this season. He is in line for a big payday this winter, either in Europe or in a new MLS deal. The Vancouver Whitecaps traded him rather than making him one of the league's highest-paid defenders. Since joining the Red Bulls, Parker has been outstanding and has helped his new team forge the best defense in club history.ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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CB Aaron Long, New York Red Bulls $73,125A repeat selection on the MLS Bargain XI, Long has followed up his breakout 2017 season with a strong start to 2018. His skill on the ball, coupled with an improving defensive skill set, make him one of the league's most underrated defenders. It shouldn't be long before the 25-year-old central defender secures a new contract with the Red Bulls.

Returning home after South Africa’s semifinal exit in the World T20, Faf du Plessis said his team had shown they could perform under pressure, a bugbear for them in previous world tournaments

Firdose Moonda07-Apr-2014South African captains have previously returned from major tournaments red-faced. Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers have had to explain why the teams they led crashed out in varyingly curious or embarrassing ways.Faf du Plessis came back rosy cheeked. Even though the group he was in charge of did not bring home the thing South African supporters wanted most – a trophy – they learned a lesson which du Plessis believes will ensure they capture a cup in the near future.”Previously we deserved a lot of criticism we got for the way we played in big moments. But now this team has showed we can perform under high pressure,” du Plessis said. “To get 170 in the semi-final after losing a wicket in the first over was a really good effort. In terms of playing big moments, this team has showed we can also do it.”South Africa’s batting has been their Achilles’ heel in major tournaments in the past. At the Champions Trophy last June, despite batting fairly well throughout the event, they slipped to 80 for 8 in the semi-final against England before staging a small recovery while their stumbling in their chasing a modest 222 against New Zealand in the 2011 World Cup in Dhaka remains fresh in the mind.When du Plessis arrived at the Shere Bangla Stadium to prepare for South Africa’s shootout against India, “the first thing I thought about was my scrum in the middle with the New Zealand players that day,” he said. Du Plessis was involved with the run-out of AB de Villiers that derailed the chase, back in 2011, and was involved in an on-field altercation with Kyle Mills which was the first sign of South Africa’s implosion.Even though that was more three years ago and du Plessis was a relative rookie at the time, the experience was fresh in his mind. South Africa wanted to guard against the mistakes they had made that day, and their many other fluffs before the final hurdle in previous tournaments. “Because we played the first week in Chittagong, we felt very confident when we went to Dhaka,” du Plessis said. “The past experience wasn’t too much of a factor so I didn’t feel it necessary to talk too much about it.”But when Quinton de Kock was dismissed at the end of the first over, to cap off a underwhelming showing in what du Plessis dubbed “the most pressure he has played under,” South Africa could have unraveled. Du Plessis was the next man in and knew he could not repeat the 2011 episode. He built partnerships with Hashim Amla and JP Duminy and South Africa posted what he thought was a winning total.It went wrong in the field where “too many extras,” cost South Africa and although du Plessis is concerned about the wides, he does not want that to detract from the way his team defended totals in their other three matches. South Africa’s matches against New Zealand, Netherlands and England went deep and they left it late to assert themselves.That they could set themselves up for a final assault through the man du Plessis said he considers South Africa’s man of the tournament, Imran Tahir, and could then close the deal with Dale Steyn represents progress for both du Plessis and coach Russell Domingo. Another South African side would not have won matches they seemed destined to lose. This one did and that experience will stand them in good stead for tournaments to come, starting with fifty-over World Cup next year.Du Plessis is not currently part of South Africa’s ODI set-up, after he was dropped ahead of the India series last December, but he hopes the door will still be open for him. He said one of the primary issues confronting the team’s preparation for the tournament is squad certainty, which will largely depend on the availability of Jacques Kallis. The all-rounder remains interested in turning out at the event and will play in most of the almost 30 ODIs South Africa have planned before the competition to work on combinations.For once, that could be the only thing South Africa have to worry about because the a lot of the extensive mental preparation they usually do would have been taken care of at this World T20. “I am very happy with the team’s performances. Apart from not winning, I was really proud of how everyone performed. For me it wasn’t a disappointment. We’ve proven to ourselves we can play in big moments,” du Plessis said.South Africa have seen first-hand that it can be done. They also watched Sri Lanka break an 18-year trophy drought to earn another title and du Plessis, in particular, was heartened by Sri Lanka’s performance. “I was very happy for Sri Lanka. I thought India were too strong for them but they proved me wrong. Where Sri Lanka did well is that they restricted India’s powerhouse batting,” he said. “I am really happy that they also had a chance to win something.” Now he will hope that South Africa, like Sri Lanka, will not have to lose in five finals before they finally win one.

Ben Stokes, the England allrounder, could miss at least the first month of the season following surgery on the wrist he broke thumping a locker during England’s final T20 against West Indies in Barbados

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2014Ben Stokes, the England allrounder, could miss at least the first month of the season following surgery on the wrist he broke thumping a locker during England’s final T20 against West Indies in Barbados.Stokes’ frustration got the better of him after his first-ball dismissal to Krishmar Santokie and he took it on the dressing-room furniture, the resulting break ruling him out of the World T20 and the opening phase of the English season with Durham.An ECB statement said: “Ben Stokes has had an operation on the fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist. Stokes will be reviewed in six weeks and a schedule for his return to full training will be determined following the review.The timeframe means England’s one-day international against Scotland, on May 9, appears tight for him to make a return and he may have to wait until the T20 and ODIs against Sri Lanka later in the month. The restructuring of the international season – moving the first Test series into June instead of May – means he should have plenty of time to be ready for the Tests against Sri Lanka.

Steven Finn has insisted that the collapse in his bowling form has been exaggerated and that after leaving England’s tour of Australia prematurely he can make a quick return next summer

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2014Steven Finn has insisted that the collapse in his bowling form has been exaggerated and that after leaving England’s tour of Australia prematurely he is confident he can quickly make the technical adjustments necessary to return to the international side next summer.Finn did not play in a single Test during England’s 5-0 whitewash but pronounced himself “knackered” by his perpetual attempts to sort out his malfunctioning bowling action in the nets. Giving his only interview to ecb.co.uk – English cricket’s in-house website – he said he had felt his action was “close to clicking on numerous occasions and dismissed some media coverage as “uninformed”.”I have worked very hard on this tour,” Finn said in an interview also freely available on the ECB’s YouTube site. “I have put lots and lots of hours in to try to make my bowling action right. I arrived on the tour very confident I could play a full part in the Ashes series. As the series went on, and as we moved into the one-day leg of the tour, it is clear that there are a couple of technical issues I need to address.”At times it has felt like I have been banging my head against a brick wall, trying to make it right and trying to be prepared to play and take myself out of this environment, a competitive environment, and work with people what I’ve worked with before, I’m really looking forward to it.”We will address what needs addressing, make a plan and stick to that religiously. There have been times on this trip when it has felt so close to clicking. Bowling in the nets before the Prime Minister’s XI game I bowled nicely, I bowled with decent pace, I bowled quite consistently, but it’s the infrequency with which that has happened which has probably led to me going home.”It’s close to clicking and it’s not going to take too much to get me back where I want to be.”Finn echoed the belief of Angus Fraser, director of cricket at Middlesex and a long-time confidant, that he needed to fall in love with the game again.”I’d love to stay out here and put myself up for selection… It’s got to a point on the tour where I suppose the constant setbacks I’ve had in the nets it’s going to be good for me to get away and clear my head for a couple of weeks and, as Angus said, just fall in the love with the game again. I do love the game but at times it’s been hard to love it because I’ve been fighting myself so much.Steve Finn says it will not be too long before he is putting his hand up for selection again•Getty Images”It’s tough for me to leave the tour, I’m upset I’m leaving the tour because I want to be helping England win games of cricket… but I do feel that it’s best if I go home now.”Finn accepts that he has minimal chance of being included in England’s World Twenty plans in Bangladesh as he will have no matches to prove that his troubles are behind him. His target is England’s one-day series against Sri Lanka in mid-May.”As far as the West Indies tour goes, it;s going to be difficult to put up my hand for selection… the focus for me is getting back for Middlesex and playing some early season cricket and try to put my hand up for those one-dayers in mid-May.”He did not give an interview to the media to give an honest appraisal of the situation he was in, but still attacked some of the coverage as “uninformed”.”I am nowhere near as far away as some people have been suggesting in the press,” he said. “It is quite an uninformed view from people who haven’t seen me bowl much. I have been doing a lot of bowling away from people’s eyes. I feel it is not far away from clicking but I have had two-and-a-half months feeling like that.”In terms of the technical things, they are not massive things. I’ve aligned my run-ups – my run-ups are nice straight line to the crease now – I did a lot of work on that last summer – and it’s just about getting the timing of my arms and legs working at the same time. Sometimes a little thing can throw you out on either of those things but once my arms and my legs start working together again I feel I can come out of this a better bowler.”I am not sure I will take a Test wicket or an ODI or T20 wicket for granted ever again.”When you are busting a gut every time you step into the nets, sometimes it can be a case of trying too hard. I am knackered come the end of this tour now because I have spent so many hours in the nets trying to put things right.”It’s not massive things. I’ve not forgotten how to bowl.”

Stuart Broad has called England’s Twenty20 batting line-up “scary” and is confident that the team still have the belief to take something from their woeful tour of Australia

Andrew McGlashan28-Jan-2014Stuart Broad has called England’s Twenty20 batting line-up “scary” and is confident that the team still has the belief to take something from the woeful tour of Australia.Broad is England’s T20 captain and is now beginning a rare period where he will be leading the side for a concentrated period of time, beginning with the three matches in Australia followed by the tour of West Indies (where he is also likely to captain the short ODI series) followed by the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.England so far have a solitary international victory – the one-day win in Perth last week – to show for the trek around Australia although they should have won in Adelaide two days ago only for a late collapse to throw the game away.There have been more changes of personnel for the T20 format with Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Luke Wright and Jade Dernbach taking on their specialist short-form roles and it’s the first three of those names who Broad believes give England an enviable batting order.”We’ve got some unbelievable strikers in our side,” Broad said. “If we can lay a platform with the likes of Lumb, Hales, Wright – and see how they strike a ball – then you’ve got Morgan and Buttler coming in. It’s a pretty scary batting line up. I’d imagine the three games are going to be pretty exciting to watch and hopefully we can let our skills to do the talking because, if we do, I think there’ll be some high scores.”England will be fielding a side much closer to their first-choice T20 outfit than Australia for these three matches. The home side will resemble more an Australia A line-up, which has been further hit by the withdrawal of James Faulkner due to injury.England are also helped by the fact that three of the new faces – Hales, Lumb and Wright – have been playing in the Big Bash League over the last six weeks so are well in-tune with the format. Only Dernbach, the second-leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals last year with 13 scalps from seven matches, is coming in reasonably cold although he has been travelling with the one-day squad for the last two weeks as preparation.”Jade’s the only one who’s not played a lot of cricket but all the guys have been moving and playing so that’s really good,” Broad said. “And there’s a confidence as well; Morgan’s been scoring runs, Buttler’s been scoring runs and Wright’s probably been one of the standout players in the Big Bash. There’s a lot of confidence going into this series, and we know T20’s a big confidence game. If you believe you can hit the ball over the ropes then generally you do.”I’m really excited to captain this group of players because they are a group of players that always want to improve and I think you need that in international cricket. But also a group of players who are not shy and are not scared to take the brave options.”One player who has not featured since the Ashes, but whose name continues to dominate debate about England’s future, is Kevin Pietersen. Ashley Giles, the limited-overs coach, previously called him a “million-pound asset” in the Twenty20 format and Pietersen’s immediate future will be clearer a few days after his T20 series when the squads for the Caribbean and World T20 are named, but meanwhile Broad would not be drawn into discussing him.”I think you can see from my position it would be hard to comment on that with the team I’ve got in that changing room with a T20 coming tomorrow to win here,” he said. “The focus is purely on what we do in Australia and once we’ve got these three games, and hopefully a series win, under our belt we can focus on planning more on the World Twenty20.”One issue, though, that Broad was happy to talk about was the crowd reaction he has received during the tour of Australia. Before the trip, Darren Lehmann called on the local supporters to send Broad home crying, then the refused to use his name ahead of the first Test in Brisbane and he has been booed throughout although with a little less feeling of late.”It’s actually a bit disappointing now – it’s getting less and less,” Broad said. “You have to really listen for them now. In Brisbane I thought if it continued like that I wouldn’t have any ear drums left. To be fair it’s been quite good fun; I’ve enjoyed it and enjoyed the banter with the crowd. It’s not been frightful general, abuse. I feel like I’ve embraced it okay, it’s not really affected my performance particularly, I don’t think. And there are not many people in the world who can say they’ve been called a “W” word by 40,000 people. So, I’ve got that one.”

Leicestershire, reeling from an awful season, have reorganised their coaching set-up in a bid to find improvement

George Dobell15-Oct-2013Leicestershire, reeling from an awful season, have reorganised their coaching set-up in a bid to find improvement.For the first time in the club’s history, the team failed to win a first-class game all season – they lost to Leeds-Bradford MCCU, too – and recorded the lowest points tally (79) by any team since the introduction of two divisions in the County Championship. They finished 70 points adrift of the rest at the bottom of Division Two.As a result Phil Whitticase, who was previously known as the head coach, has been named as director of cricket, while Ben Smith is now the senior coach with responsibility for the first team. Lloyd Tennant has been appointed as senior coach with responsibility for the 2nd XI.”The club felt that with all the responsibilities I had to deal with there was a need to realign and have a clear focus to the requirements of the team,” Whitticase said. “This has been achieved by restructuring the roles of the coaches and I believe this will be in the best interest of the club.”The club raised some eyebrows when its chairmen, Paul Heywood, sent out a message to members towards the end of the season. Among some genuinely encouraging items of news – such as the club having secured a tour game against India in 2014 and expressing confidence that they would hit their financial budgets – he included the more prosaic item: an ice cream trolley has been purchased so ice cream is now available at every match.While Leicestershire supporters will, no doubt, he delighted to hear that, they may be more interested in how the club can improve on the pitch and how they can keep hold of a clutch of their better players – the likes of Ned Eckersley, Josh Cobb and Shiv Thakor – when their contracts expire.

New Zealand A won their second consecutive one-dayer in the UAE when their pacers demolished Afghanistan for 99 for a 105-run win in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2014
ScorecardFile photo: Mitchell McClenaghan scored a 24-ball 26 and took two wickets•AFPNew Zealand A won their second consecutive one-dayer in the UAE when their pacers demolished Afghanistan for 99 for a 105-run win in Dubai. Defending 204, New Zealand A were led by three wickets from Kyle Mills and two each from Mitchell McClenaghan and Doug Bracewell.New Zealand A were in a spot of bother after they opted to bat, being 81 for 4 and soon 117 for 6. Opener Anton Devcich led the top order with a 74-ball 55 as three wickets fell in front of him. He fell in the 21st over before Colin de Grandhomme (34) and Nathan McCullum (44) took them past 100 with a stand of 36. The lower order took them to 204 as Mills scored a patient 13 off 37 and McClenaghan an unbeaten 24-ball 26.Afghanistan were in trouble early at 7 for 3 after four overs. The pacers did not allow any substantial partnership to flourish as they were soon 35 for 6. Mirwais Ashraf (30) and Afsar Zazai (21) stalled the fall of wickets with a partnership of 56 for the the seventh wicket. Once that was broken by Grandhomme, the New Zealand A bowlers took 33 more deliveries to wrap them up within 39 overs.

Victoria captain Matthew Wade has been suspended for one Sheffield Shield match for pitch tampering during his side’s win over Tasmania at Bellerive Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2013Victoria captain Matthew Wade has been suspended for one Sheffield Shield match for pitch tampering during his side’s win over Tasmania at Bellerive Oval. Wade, who scored 119 during Victoria’s first innings on Thursday and Friday was found guilty of breaching the Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour while batting, after the umpires Ian Lock and Sam Nogajski reported him for “unfair play”.”While batting during Victoria’s first innings, umpires determined that Wade had tampered with the pitch,” Cricket Australia said in a statement. “Both umpires considered the change to the pitch, which resulted in the creation of a long valley within the protected area, had been created by means other than natural wear and tear.”Wade denied the charge and a full disciplinary hearing was held, led by Daryl Harper, the match referee and former Test umpire. Harper upheld the guilty verdict and Wade was penalised 50% of his match fee and received two suspension points, which will result in him missing Victoria’s match against Western Australia in Perth starting on Friday.However, Wade has the right to appeal the decision, which would have to be lodged within the next 48 hours. Tony Dodemaide, the chief executive of Cricket Victoria, said the state would review the finding against Wade before deciding on its course of action.”We are currently reviewing the events in their entirety before deciding whether to lodge an appeal and will not comment further until that decision has been made,” Dodemaide said.