Association of Cricket Officials Issue 27 | Page 28

USA ACO Officiates MCC Women’s Tour ICC Americas, in conjunction with the British Officer’s Cricket Club (BOCC), hosted a three-day USA Women’s Development Camp in Philadelphia from 9–11 September. The USA Women’s Development Camp consisted of 22 women selected from different parts of the US, who were invited for training/selection camp to showcase their talent in the presence of the three National US Women’s Selection Panel members, for eventual selection into the US National Women’s cricket team. The training camp culminated with three T20 matches against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) women’s squad; two T20 games on Saturday 10 September at BOCC’s Evansburg Cricket Ground; and one at Merion Cricket Club on Sunday 11 September, at some of the oldest cricket facilities in the USA (the grounds use artificial pitches, but have well-maintained outfields). By far the best of them was Merion CC, which has some of the best off-field facilities at any cricket ground in America. Founded in 1865, making it one of the oldest cricket clubs in America, Merion CC’s stately grounds and pavilion – also located in the Philadelphia suburb of Haverford – have been co-hosts with BOCC and other clubs, for the famous annual Philadelphia International Cricket Festival (PICF) held in the spring for 24 years. Godman (27). In reply, Nadia Gruny (USA Red) scored 51* but the hosts fell short by 18 runs. The afternoon match saw MCC win more comfortably, having posted a score of 159 (Aylish Cranstone 42). USA Blue finished well short of the required total thanks to very tight bowling from Jude Wilmot and Marilyn Smith. A USA Select XI was to be the opposition for the final match of the first leg o f the tour, played in the beautiful grounds of the Merion Cricket Club. Although it was a low-scoring match, it was a close finish, with MCC reaching the required total with only two balls to spare. On expected lines, the inaugural women’s tour to the USA was seen to be a great success, with the MCC team unbeaten, having played some competitive and enjoyable cricket. MCC’s women proved to be excellent ambassadors for their club and to the Spirit of Cricket. The touring party left behind a keen, competitive, hardworking community of USA Women players who got a real insight into the work of the MCC and the Spirit of Cricket, drawing great lessons from the experience of players of the calibre of Claire Taylor and Charlotte Edwards among others. The MCC Women’s squad headed by former international player Claire Taylor included Charlotte Edwards, another former international player, along with a number of players with county experience. The MCC sent its squads to help promote the women’s (and men’s) game out in the US and Canada. It is a matter of great pride that three umpires and one scorer from the United States of America Association of Cricket Officials (USA ACO), a USA-based umpire’s and scorer’s body affiliated with ECB ACO; umpire Deepak Katte (USA ACO Co-Founder, President and ECB ACO Umpires and Scorers Tutor in USA), ECB ACO L1A candidates; umpires Raj Jalli and Bruce Gottschalk and scorer Merry Farmer were selected to officiate in the three T20 games along with MCC umpire Jane Carpenter. The first day of cricket (Saturday 10 September) saw MCC compete in two T20 games against USA Red and USA Blue teams. In the morning match, MCC lost the toss and were put in to bat, posting a score of 140 runs. Charlotte Edwards opened the batting, hitting a quick 50, ably supported by Emma 28 email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710