September 4, 2015
NEW YORK – Lovkesh Kalia, who was elected to represent the Central West Region on the USACA board of directors in March, has submitted his resignation from the position.
Lovkesh Kalia had doubts about whether USA cricket could find its way out of the turmoil under president Gladstone Dainty © Peter Della Penna
September 4, 2015
NEW YORK – Lovkesh Kalia, who was elected to represent the Central West Region on the USACA board of directors in March, has submitted his resignation from the position.
Lovkesh Kalia had doubts about whether USA cricket could find its way out of the turmoil under president Gladstone Dainty © Peter Della Penna
Kalia, 39, becomes the second USACA board member in as many days to resign from his position on the board, following Faizan Janjua's decision on Wednesday to step down as USACA's second vice-president.
Kalia communicated his decision to the USACA board in an email on Thursday night and made the decision while travelling on business in India. When contacted by ESPNcricinfo on Friday morning, Kalia said the decision was only partly made due to his foreign business commitments, which cut into his availability for board meetings, and more to do with what he described as a disorganised setup.
"USACA is working as a not really well structured or organized," Kalia told ESPNcricinfo. "Things are happening in a very ad hoc way. I believe in doing things where you have everything structured first and organized before you announce things but here it seems to be the other way around. You announce something and then you try to figure out how to pull it off. There are some good people but I didn't like the way things are happening."
When asked for examples of announcements that USACA has made before something is ready to be held, Kalia talked about the repeated cancellation of the national team's preparation tours to Jamaica, as well as the $100,000 League Champions T20 tournament in November. Despite USACA's current debts totaling more than $4 million, a USACA press release stated that all flights and hotel accommodation will be covered by the organizers.
"When you announce a camp and you don't do it, that's definitely not a good thing," Kalia said. "The biggest example I would say is this recently announced League Champions T20 tournament. There is so much we don't know. I am not 100% convinced with this tournament. They can definitely pull it off and I'm not saying they won't be able to do it. But it should be better structured. It shouldn't look like they are trying to do something all of a sudden."
Kalia was also critical of the fact that confidential board communications, both verbal and in email form, were regularly leaked out and found their way on the internet, either being posted on social media by people outside the board or winding up circulated in emails by former USACA secretary Kenwyn Williams.
"My biggest concern is that everything we have talked about, it always winds up on Facebook one way or another," Kalia said. "I shouldn't have to read up on these things on Facebook or in an email from [Kenwyn Williams]. A lot of information about whatever is happening, whether that is about reinstatement of the ICC and emails sent back and forth, nobody should have that information but apparently somebody does."
Kalia denied that his resignation came as a result of Janjua's, and also said it had nothing to do with the USACA board's decision to be absent from the ICC town hall meeting in Chicago last weekend. He said he hoped cricket in the country was able to overcome recent administrative strife, but had doubts about whether or not that will be possible under the current USACA regime led by president Gladstone Dainty.
"Whatever happens, whether its USACA or some other entity that comes up, hopefully we can make the game grow in the USA. Everybody knows there is a lot of potential in the USA but hopefully the ICC is serious about making it happen. We love this game and I just really hope whichever organization it is, they are able to unite everybody and do not leave out certain leagues or people associated with USACA, ACF or whoever. It needs to be a joint effort and if USACA somehow survives, they need to get their act together.
Courtesy: Cricinfo – (Author Peter Della Penna)
