Venu Pisike was the dog that caught the car.
After chasing a clash with American Cricket Enterprises for some time, he got what he wanted most when the USA Cricket's board - in a split vote with Pisike and his allies comprising a 5-4 majority - flipped ACE the bird and upended the future of their flagship project, Major League Cricket, the first noteworthy effort to make cricket a sustained spectator sport in the United States in at least a century and probably ever.
But the critical question that goes unanswered in so many cases like this - what happens next? - appeared to have created doubt in the mind of one or more important people, as USA Cricket pulled an about-face on that termination a few days later. The toothpaste, however, was out of the tube.
The move to terminate the deal originally provoked pretty widespread condemnation, occasional derision and probably a Shocked Pikachu Face from the ICC itself after they were promised that USAC’s governance issues would be sorted out rather than compounded by picking fights with major partners. The latest criticism came from Corey Anderson, captain of the San Francisco Unicorns and Ops Director of the quasi-union US Cricketers' Association, who was quoted in a Cricinfo piece hours before news leaked that USAC was trying to un-burn a critical bridge. In short, everyone was in the dark about what USAC was actually trying to do, what its plans were, and if there would even be any prep work done for February… or before the men’s national team is due in the UAE next month for CWC League 2 fixtures.
When news broke on the about-face, I laughed and shook my head, but something didn’t feel right. Smit Patel broke that news and noted that it was a surprise even to some board members of USA Cricket, which makes it feel very odd given that the board voted on the initial termination but, apparently, not on the decision to back down. Smit had more reporting that detailed reaction from board opponents. Atul Rai, who has positioned himself as an opposition figure to Pisike, claims the board was “misled” about the nature of the vote and USAC’s course of action; Nadia Gruny appears to have been left out of the discussions entirely, an issue compounded by her apparent absence from a meeting or meetings sometime in the preceding two weeks.
What is this, the Roy family?
Then we learned that USA Cricket had done an about-face on their about-face, which they explained as an attempt to engage ACE in dialogue, but ACE was likely already hunkering down for a fight after the initial termination and may have been doing so for a while. On September 16th, they started legal proceedings against USA Cricket. The two sides traded press releases, with ACE going very short on their second one and noting that a hearing for a preliminary injunction is set to happen before the end of the month after a request for a temporary restraining order was denied late last week with the presiding judge, Michael Kotlarczyk, citing due process concerns before issuing a TRO.
Given that his chief concern was USA Cricket being heard before issuing relief, I have a feeling a preliminary injunction is more likely than a TRO, but far from a lock. Given the acrimonious relationship between the two parties, this is headed for trial, likely sometime in 2026.
So American cricket’s civil war is on - the sport’s ostensible governing body and its principal financier are squaring off in court. The board is also at war with itself, and there was a virtual court hearing on Monday in Boulder County featuring all sitting board members plus Patricia Whittaker in the lawsuit seeking the removal of Pisike and his allies as it progresses through the courts. A motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction by Pisike’s party was denied back in June.
Anybody know what Noor Murad is up to? He want to get in on the fun?
Ugh.
All of this feels so very Jeremy Bearimy in the sense that we seem to be going in circles, looping around, doubling back on ourselves, and watching the same petty squabbles and mind-numbing talking points play out while the sport - which as made considerable inroads in the US just in the last 15 months - flounders. Corey Anderson is right! Everyone is still in the dark! We already know all of the things we will know, and nobody has said anything new or meaningful in weeks. Players and coaches of even the U19 teams should be (and probably are) anxious. We are stuck waiting on unreliable narrators to feed us their perspectives through press releases and media leaks until the ICC does what it should have done in July… or the USOPC beats them to the punch sometime in October.
This sucks. I hate it. It makes me miserable. And to top it all off, similar stuff is happening in Canada - and we need them.