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. In part two, we discuss Minnesota cricket, and the future of the game here. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: What would you say the biggest success for Minnesota cricket has been over the past few years, and what have been the biggest challenges?

**A: The biggest success for the Minnesota Cricket Association in the past few years really has been the operational excellence that we have reached, that we have achieved. It’s obviously an evolving process, but our finances are very transparent, our operations are very transparent, we have a very fair election process, [and] there is a lot of opportunity for a lot of people to come up and do work. Being declared a compliant organization [by the American governing body of cricket], I think what really stood out for me is an acknowledgement that MCA runs a transparent organization. It shows a real operational strength, a real operational maturity, that brought us where we are today.

The three challenges for the MCA today, number one is seeking out donations and sponsorships from local organizations. We are a state with several Fortune 50 companies. I consider it a struggle that we are not able to get any of those organizations to give us assistance, donations or sponsorships.  So that’s something that we are working on. I am very keen on moving that direction, but that’s a challenge, obviously.

Second challenge is our facilities. We basically rent out our facilities from the Park Board. Though we enjoy excellent relationships with all of the park boards that we work with, cricket is a sport that is not very well known to Americans. We will continue to struggle finding further good facilities to keep pace with our growth; we are growing at a rate of one new team a year. For example, recently I tried to reach out to a few park boards in different cities, but [their] preference is for American sports. Unless cricket has visibility at the national level, it will continue to be a challenge to promote the game at a local level.

The third challenge is development opportunities – how do you develop the sport.  Volunteer-based organizations only go that far and have limited operations. You need to bring in some kind of administrative maturity by bringing in people who are focused on some work, getting paid for it, can bring a lot of value for the work that they are doing for an organization. We are full-time employees [at our day jobs], and then we are part-time, full-time volunteers for this cricket work, all across America. Unless we are able to get some kind of strong financial backing and set up our organizations just like any other organization that can operate with a full-time, at least two or three full-time staff, it will continue to be a challenge.

Q: What should we look for from the MCA in 2012?

A: We are mandated by the USA Cricket Association to have a functional youth program by 2014, and then have a functional women’s program by 2015. We have to invest time and resources in development; you have to show that you are doing some productive work so that you are also eligible for some grants, some kind of help or assistance from that expertise perspective.

So I am very much focused on upgrading and exploring better facilities. I am very interested in fixing at least one or two turf pitches, to align with the national standard, and to promote competition on the local cricket scene. MCA is very focused on finding some sponsorships, or maybe some city grants or something like that, to lay out at least one turf pitch by the end of this year. [Editor’s note: While cricket is generally played on a grass pitch, the  parks don’t have the maintenance capability to allow the local league to do the same. They currently stretch out a matting over a strip of sand to approximate the bounce and playing feel of a grass pitch.]

My second focus really is youth cricket development. We have had some development programs in the past, but lack of consistency let the programs die. We should start developing something on a consistent basis, that’s how you build organizations. And that’s what I’m really looking at gaining. Youth development is really high on MCA’s agenda.

This summer, we have forged a partnership with the University of Minnesota. They have a sports program during the summer where hundreds of kids get together. So cricket will be offered as one of the sports, and some of our players will be teaching. Then I’ve talked with the park board that we already rent out our facilities from, and I’ve offered them to partner with them, to offer cricket as one of the sports during some of their own programs too. Then I’m trying to reach out to athletic complexes as well and see if they will be willing to let us come in to introduce the game, or at least show what we plan to do. Not much success there primarily due to lack of exposure to cricket as a spors. But that’s a push that I’ll continue to make.

In a few years, I won’t be able to play the way that I do today. I am a player, and I am an administrator too – but I know in three to four years I won’t be able to do that. And I see that in my league, that people are aging but probably not realizing that they need to get reinforcement for their teams and introduce youth or more players. The youth will be able to replace the existing crop in next few years and keep the game alive and competitive. It should be an evolving process

And then last piece is a big push towards sponsorship and donations. I’m doing my best reaching out different organizations, making some connections, trying to garner some kind of support as we try to put our names out there. I’m leveraging a lot of resources within MCA, for people, we have a lot of professionals who work for big organizations like Target, 3M, UHG and all those. I am hoping that we will be able to capitalize on that and get some kind of a long-term commitment for three to five years, primarily for our development program and for facilities improvement. If I am able to get something like that done in 2012, next year MCA will probably be able to bring in a national tournament to Minnesota, as we did in 2009 when there was a lot of visibility around it. We went out on the news media, and radios and all that kind of stuff. I would like to try to get some kind of similar limelight back to Minnesota as soon as possible.

**Later, in part three: Yunus talks about the national organization in charge of cricket. **