Masaood Yunus is the president of the Minnesota Cricket Association, the Twin Cities-area cricket league. On March 22, I had a chance to talk with Yunus about the MCA, and about the future of cricket in Minnesota and in America.

In part one of the interview, we discussed developing cricket in America in general, and in part two, we discussed Minnesota cricket, and the future of the game here. In part three, we talked about the national board. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: Can you give a short overview of how the Central East region [the region of USA Cricket that Minnesota is a part of] works?

**A: We have a national organization, called the USACA. Then under the USACA there are seven different regions. Our region is called Central East Region, which is comprised of about eight to nine states. We have a Central East administration that generally is comprised of regional presidents, and the regional presidents elect a small regional board, that is comprised of a secretary, a treasurer, a director, and a [regional] rep. The CER rep is basically a connection between the region and the national organization. That is a elected position by the region itself.

Q: Last year, the Central East rep for the national board was recalled. From a regional standpoint, how do you prevent something like that from happening again?

A: So it’s a very tricky question. Restating the public facts, we recalled the CER rep; that should have remained recalled. I have no problem making that statement. A 10-0 vote from the same elected body, who initially elected the CER rep, speaks for itself.

I think what really matters is, we live in America, the land of the brave and free. No matter how things go around, we are committed to the democratic process that we all must follow. We will continue to maintain that level of respect, and that level of engagement and trust, in the democratic process, and let the democratic process take over everything and run things through that. Once in awhile we’ll get hit, like the CER example, but we will continue to do what’s right, and follow what is prescribed in the laws and regulations of the land.

Q: The USA national team, they’re over in the World Cup qualifier right now, and they’re doing okay – not particularly well. They’ve kind of struggled in the past few competitions, whether it’s in Division Four or the T20 qualifiers last year. As far as the national team, do you think there’s anything that can be done to improve the national team?

A: Honestly, I have never been engaged in any kind of selection or any kind of discussion for the national team, so I think my comments would be very premature. … I think there are good players out there, I think they need more exposure and competition at this level – for example, I was watching the game between Pakistan and Bangladesh today. Bangladesh took the game all the way to the wire, and no one would have expected them to do so. They played marvelously, there’s no question about it. They took the game right to the end, no doubt about it. I think the USA national team is moving towards the same kind of – for lack of a proper word, I guess, I think they are hungry, let’s put it this way. I think they are really hungry. A lot of support is needed from national board, regional board, and all of us, and it will make a difference. I’m very optimistic.

Q: You mentioned earlier about MCA being listed as one of the compliant leagues. I think that’s really something to be proud of. Were you surprised that so many members of the USACA did not clear that bar?

A: It is obviously a surprise. 47 leagues, and twelve leagues were compliant, and three leagues were voted into being compliant. It is definitely a surprise, but obviously I don’t know enough about a majority of the leagues. I can brag about MCA. The truth be told, we have done our best to be very transparent to our members. I think I can say this with authority, that within [MCA’s] organizations, teams and board members and so forth, we all command respect among each other, because that’s the kind of relationships that we have cultivated into our organization. It’s a good acknowledgement, because we respect each other, we are very transparent and open with each other, we openly and freely discuss items and issues, and make amendments and vote on stuff. I think that really translated into recognition at the national level. MCA also takes pride in the fact that we are one of the most diverse sports organizations across CER, and possibly more.

So that’s only about MCA. Then there is the Midwest Cricket Conference for example, probably one of the biggest leagues, with the highest number of teams, in America. 38 or 40-something. MCA shares excellent sporting relationships with those folks out there. They’re a really good league, they have really good development programs, they have a lot of visibility, they have really good players!  And on top of that they bring in international players once in awhile. It’s obviously kind of a disappointment that they couldn’t make it, but obviously I don’t know how much of the criteria they were not able to meet. From the surface that I see, I think they have been a pretty engaged organization and that needs recognition. There are a couple others as well in similar circumstances.

Q: As far as USACA, the news coverage of the national board has been almost uniformly negative over the past few years. Do you think that’s fair, or not fair?

A: I really have nothing much to say about that.

… I’ve never been actively engaged or involved with the USACA board, until very recently. I think it’s too early for me to make an opinion on that. I always tell people, to me, the first impression is not the last impression. I would need to get to know the people well before I can really make any impression. I think it’s pretty clear how USACA operation has been running in the past decade or so. There’s definitely room for improvement for MCA as well as USACA, and I would really hope that, by voting in this upcoming election, we’ll voice our vote.