United States of America (USA) came into the third half of the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two 2023-27 stage on the back of their five successive victories against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Namibia. But the start of the third round of the tournament wasn’t healthy for them, as they earned a heavy defeat by ten wickets against Scotland at the Prime View Cricket Complex in Houston.
Put into bat first, the USA side was rolled over for a weak total of 144 in their 38.4 overs, as three of the batters, including the captain Monak Patel, earned ducks besides their name from the top six. It was the 58-run knock from Shadley Van Schalkwyk that gave some respite to the total.
At one point, when the United States was struggling for 59/8 in the 19th over, the end could have been drastically nightmarish. However, on the same track, they failed to open their account in the wickets column, which had an immediate effect on them sacking their head coach, Stuart Law.
USA terminates deal of head coach Stuart Law after humiliating defeat
The news of the veteran leaving the side in the middle of the series and within seven months of his appointment has sent some shocking waves to the cricketing circles of America. The reports have claimed that the decision has been taken on the back of some serious allegations of discrimination, mistrust, and favoritism laid by Monank Patel and the seven senior members of the squad.
Also Read: Virat Kohli Tries To Punch Tim Southee; New Zealander Responds
It has been known that the birth of the tension between the coach and the concerned individuals came during their Netherlands tour, which was the first assignment of the side after their historic assignment in the T20 World Cup 2024 at home and the West Indies, where they qualified into the super eight stages of the tournament.
USA Cricket tried hard to control the situation but, eventually, the official investigation cleared the picture of Law’s alleged misconduct during the recent trip to Namibia.
A few months ago, the former Australian top-order batter addressed that he had been trying to build relationships among the team before highlighting the United States cricket team as family.
“No. 1 was building relationships with the playing group. You’ve got to have that trust between coach and player to let them know that you’re supportive of them, but also that you have expectations of their abilities.” Law expressed to Cricket Monthly five months ago. “Some people outside don’t quite understand what they’re trying to do, and they just see the result. They just say, look, that’s not good enough.”
The 56-year-old has been a regular member of the coaching department since his retirement as a player in 2009. In the past, his CV has grown by being part of the Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Bangladesh side. Taking over the USA team, he kicked off the assignment in an auspicious way thanks to the 4-0 series win against Canada.
The shocking series victory at home over Bangladesh was followed by the successful T20 World Cup campaign, where they blew away Pakistan and found India under the carpet. But since then, it has been a mixed-bag situation for them, having been whitewashed in the T20I series against Nepal.
In the absence of Law for the next game of USA against Rohit Paudel-led side on October 27, assistant coach Vincent Vinay Kumar will assume the duties as the interim head coach while former USA off-spinner Usman Rafiq will take over Vinay in the past role.