Steve Massiah, the former USA captain, will not be traveling with the team to UAE for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers, as he was unable to get time off work.
Associate Countries often have this issue, but when Bermuda addressed the issue prior to the team being selected it was a big deal – what would our media be saying if this was Bermuda?
Massiah, 34, was officially announced as part of USA's squad when the ICC unveiled the tournament rosters last week, but a USACA spokesperson confirmed that he had been replaced by the uncapped 21-year-old batsman Fahad Babar.
Babar was originally in USA's 15-man squad to tour the UAE next month, but USACA had made a request to the ICC after the October 15 submission deadline to have both Babar and wicketkeeper Ritesh Kadu replaced by Imran Awan and Barrington Bartley. The squad shuffling has, in part, spurred Andy Pick to resign as USACA High Performance Manager.
"It was hard. I was kind of disappointed," Babar told ESPNcricinfo, describing his emotions after he was told last week that he would no longer be traveling to the UAE. "It was a little depressing but then I got a call yesterday saying I was going so now I'm really happy."
Babar scored an unbeaten 45-ball 58 in the first of three T20 trial matches against Bermuda on October 18, before getting out first ball in the third match two days later. He formerly represented the USA Under-19 team in 2011 at the ICC Americas UNDER 19 Division One tournament in Florida.
USA are scheduled to depart for the UAE on November 9th. They have been placed in Group A, and their first match of the World T20 qualifiers is against Canada in Abu Dhabi on November 15th.
|
