USA retain nine, key players omitted in new men’s contract list

USA Cricket announced on Monday the reduction of their central contracts to 9 players through December 31. Players on contract with overseas clubs such as Ian Holland and Cameron Stevenson are not included in the group. Retained by USA Cricket for the rest of 2020 are Rusty Theron, Steven Taylor, Monank Patel, Aaron Jones, Nisarg Patel, Akshay Homraj, Karima Gore, Nosthush Kenjige and captain Saurabh Netravalkar. Noticeable omissions include team veteran Elmore Hutchinson, former Windies Test batsman Xavier Marshall, USA’s leading career T20 wicket taker Timil Patel, and ICC Americas draftee Jasdeep Singh of the Guyana Amazon Warriors. In fact, none of the five American players taken in the CPL ICC Americas slots have a contract with USA Cricket.

The announcement comes a month after USA Cricket announced reducing the pay of contracted players, but extending the term another month through August. USA Chairman Paraag Marathe remarked in the announcement “…these are challenging times for sports organizations around the world, and especially in the USA, and we have a responsibility to make difficult decisions to protect the future of the game. Unfortunately the pandemic has interrupted our journey and this action has become necessary, alongside other action which the Board has taken, to ensure that we are best placed to support the USA national teams in 2021 and beyond.”

After suspending the Minor League Cricket season until spring of 2021, USA announced plans to stage regional exhibitions in September following the Minor League Draft on August 15. Also in the plans for USA Cricket are the 50 overs aside zonal men’s, women’s, and youth tournaments, penciled in to take place this coming fall immediately following the exhibition games. 

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