ind the American Premier League shambles
The American Premier League ended up making the headlines for the wrong reasons
2023 will go down as a landmark year in American cricket history. A healthy slice of the world's cricketing royalty descended upon American shores for the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket, America's own flagship T20 league that is creating a niche for itself in the world cricket calendar. Yet after the highs of the MLC, the year ended on a rather sombre note.
The American Premier League (APL), one of the many pop-up T20 tournaments staged and sanctioned by USA Cricket and the ICC in America, brought significant disrepute onto the game. In the final days of the year, a video of league owner Jay Mir calling on police to escort the umpires out of the Moosa Stadium in Houston went viral across American cricket Whatsapp groups and social media. The umpires had refused to officiate any further games after repeated defaults on payments owed to them, with Mir consequently accusing them of trespassing. Another video showed Mir exchanging expletives in a heated fashion with the hotel front desk in the presence of players.
One of the umpires, Bryan Caine, later revealed the details of the Houston fracas on the Emerging Cricket podcast. He claimed the umpires were promised first half of their total dues on 22nd December and the rest of the arrears before the final game on 31st December. However, Mir defaulted on the payments on the 22nd, promised to pay on the 25th, then defaulted again. The umpires finally received 20% of their dues on the night of 28th December. There was yet another unfulfilled promise to clear 20% more of their payments on the 29th. By the morning of the 30th, the umpires were at their wit's end and effectively went on strike ahead of the semi-finals.
Caine also claimed that Mir was a frequent visitor to the umpire room during games, suggesting how they should do their jobs. "He tried to tell us we should change the playing conditions to support what he thought should be done on that day. That the standard calculations for when it rains or when a game is delayed, which he himself signed off on before the tournament based around the broadcast schedule, should be 'adaptable' on his whim only," said Caine. The insinuation was evident.
Cricbuzz has learned that the games eventually did go ahead with the brother of the stadium owner stepping in to officiate, aided by players from the batting side taking turns to serve as square-leg umpires. To further dismay, the new umpires were seen arriving to officiate with airpods in their ears.
It is also understood the tournament was a hotbed of fixing approaches. According to sources, some players received several phone calls asking to fix games, with the person on the other end claiming it to be a direct diktat from the owner.
"As far as I know, Mir only sold three teams: Indians, Afghans and Aussies. We never saw any other owners for the rest of the four teams. Feels like he assembled the rest of the teams by himself," one of the players from the league told Cricbuzz on condition of anonymity. "You got a feeling things were a bit dubious out there."
To add to the mistrust, scorecards suggest a bowler from the 'Premium Paks' team bowled 4 no-balls in an over. After the official umpires excused themselves from being involved, the broadcasting crew reached their breaking point too, walking out on what appeared to be a payment issue.
It is further understood that eventual winners 'Premium Afghans', who stand to receive a sum of over $100,000, and the runners-up 'Premium Indians', who are owed $35,000 in prize money, went home without a dime in their pocket as Mir argued he had no money to pay them.
Such mishaps have cast a huge shadow of doubt on the sanctioning policy of USA Cricket and additionally the ICC. The sanctioning fees of the now proliferating pop-up T20 tournaments might seem like a low-hanging fruit for cash-strapped USA Cricket, but there is an urgent need for sufficient due diligence. As it prepares to host a major ICC event for the first time, USA Cricket urgently needs to get its house in order.
© Cricbuzz
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