ICC announces five-member USA selection panel

INDIANAPOLIS: International Cricket Council today announced five-member USA National Selection Committee with Jamaican Ricardo Powell as Chairman. Other selectors are Amer Afzaluddin, Asif Mujtaba, Barney Jones and Michael Voss.

According to a communication received from ICC Head of Global Development Tim Anderson, the standard of applications received was very high, and after consultation with various individuals from within the USA cricket community, the men’s panel was announced.

The Selection Committee includes significant international and domestic cricket experience, and is led by Ricardo Powell who played 109 ODIs and 2 Tests for the West Indies. He is now based in Tennessee.

Asif Mujtba (based in Texas) played 25 Tests and 66 ODIs for Pakistan, while Amer Afzaluddin (based in Michigan) represented the USA between 2000 - 2004.

Michael Voss played 19 first class matches for Western Province in South Africa and is now based in Los Angeles, while Barney Jones (based in Florida) has significant domestic cricket experience in the USA, having previously been a national selector for six years.

The panel, which will be coordinated by ICC Americas Cricket Manager, Tom Evans, will initially have the responsibility to select USA representative squads and teams at both U-17 and senior men’s levels. A further announcement about the women’s selection panel will be made next month.

It is important to note, however, that these selection panels and the policies that will guide their work are only temporary, and will be reviewed in 2017 once greater clarity about the national governance of cricket in the USA has been achieved.

These temporary measures form part of the reinstatement conditions that provide ICC with an oversight responsibility for the selection of USA national teams during the period of USACA’s suspension, and are in-line with the ICC Board’s position that despite USACA’s suspension, cricket players within the USA should not suffer and USA national representative teams should not be denied any participation opportunities.

Squads to participate in the U17 Match Play event against Canada and Bermuda in mid-July, and the senior men’s training camp in Florida in late July will be announced shortly.