Let the Games Begin

Hi All,

Starting a new thread for Week 1, Season 2009.

Meet Narasimha - Business Officer

I am glad to announce that Narasimha "Nari" has decided to join the team. Nari plays for Arsenal and is also a high energy guy. The role of business officer is very crucial since it involves maintenance of the grounds among other crucial actvities. I am positive that Nari will play a fantastic role and will add good value to the league.

More about Nari
I am Narasimha Narahari also known as "Nari" around the league and am from Bangalore,India. Been a part of MCC since 2002 and I play for Arsenal CC. I work for The Glenture Group based out of Northbrook as a Sr Consultant and live with my Wife in Palatine, IL.

Cricket has been my passion since my early days and would be thrilled to contribute to the development of this league in the position of a Business Officer.

I am excited to be a part of this team and look forward to a challenging and rewarding time.

Meet Shekhs Aravind

I am glad to announce that Shekhs has decided to join the team. Shekhs is an energy guy and will be running for the post of General Secretary. I am sure that his enthusiasm and fun loving spirit will be a perfect fit for this crucial role.

Jaggi

More about Shekhs
I am from Cochin, Kerala, India and I have been part of Midwest Cricket Conference since 2003. I play for Challengers CC. I lived in Springfield, Illinois and played with Capitol and Springfield, before I moved to the Chicago area.
I work for CGI, a French-Canadian Company based out of Montreal, Canada. I function as a Technical Architect, and have been managing development efforts for the last 5 years.
I live in Buffalo Grove, IL, with my Wife and 2 boys.
Cricket was never a passion growing up in Kerala, as I was religiously playing soccer and basketball. Living in the Midwest, playing organized cricket transformed my view about cricket and the passion involved in the game. Since I started playing in 2003, there was no looking behind, as this game was only third to my family and job. It’s the passion of playing the game, and trying to develop the sport in this country that inspires me to be part of the management team. I would love to see both my kids grow up playing this game, and have the infrastructure in place for them to learn the sport.

Agenda

Election 2008 - Midwest Cricket Conference

Draft Agenda

1. Who am I? – My name is Jaggi Nadig. I am from Bangalore, India and have been part of MCC cricketing fraternity since 2001. I was part of 2001 div-2 championship team -Tigers. I joined Phoenix cricket club in beginning of the 2007 cricket season.

I work for a company called Chamberlain as a Team Lead in the IT department. Chamberlain is the world’s largest manufacturer of Garage Door Openers.

In addition to working and immersing myself in cricket, I am in my final year of MBA at the Kellogg School of Management. I am majoring in Operations, Marketing and Strategy.

My son-Rahul, wife-Preethi and I reside in Glendale Heights, IL.

2. My Running Partner – Shiraz, I am from Karachi, Pakistan and have been part of the MCC Cricketing Fraternity since 1996. I have been with Rogers Park Cricket CLub in Division 1 since it's inception to date. I have played for Rogers Park for 3 Championship Seasons and 2 Runner Ups in 11 Years. I work for a multi-national called British Telecommunications (BT) as a Partner Manager and work with all BT Strategic Partners , specifically Micrososft, in the Midwest District. I have completed my education @ University of Illinois and have been an Alumni for Class of the Millenium. My Passion is my work and Cricket. I have been quite a familiar face in MCC for over a decade and hope to take things to the next level by running for office. I have devoted a lot of time to MCC in successfully Presiding the Abid Lehari Night Tournament for 2 Years in a Row and also was the first individual to conduct a MCC 10/10 Indoor Night Tape Ball Tournament involving 12 Teams, each team playing a dozen games to cope with Cricket Less Winters. I live minutes from Hanover Park in Streamwood, and have a very supportive wife (Mona) who has been with me through some great moments in life for the past 11 years.

3. Treasurer - Rup: I am from Berbice, Guyana and I am part of the MWCC family since 1993.
   My cricket career has spanned over 3 decades. Since the formation of Illinois Cricket Club in 1993 and inception to MWCC I have been the captain and president since inception to date. I was also the Business Officer for MWCC in 99 & 2000.
   I work for one of the largest Credit Company in the USA (Van Ru) as an accountant. I am currently a manger in the reporting department. Obtained my education at North Eastern Illinois University. Graduated in 1999 with a BS in accounting and certificates in Business Management and Business Law.

4. General Secretary - Shekhs Aravind: I am from Cochin, Kerala, India and I have been part of Midwest Cricket Conference since 2003. I play for Challengers CC. I lived in Springfield, Illinois and played with Capitol and Springfield, before I moved to the Chicago area.

   I work for CGI, a French-Canadian Company based out of Montreal, Canada. I function as a Technical Architect, and have been managing development efforts for the last 5 years.

   I live in Buffalo Grove, IL, with my Wife and 2 boys.

5. Business Officer - Narasimha Narahari: I am Narasimha Narahari also known as "Nari" around the league and am from Bangalore,India. Been a part of MCC since 2002 and I play for Arsenal CC. I work for The Glenture Group based out of Northbrook as a Sr Consultant and live with my Wife in Palatine, IL.
   Cricket has been my passion since my early days and would be thrilled to contribute to the development of this league in the position of a Business Officer.
   I am excited to be a part of this team and look forward to a challenging and rewarding time.
   

   
   

6. Why am I running? – Three key items that are most passionate to you

   1. A deep Love, Passion and Interest in Cricket and our league.

   2. To bring about a change in the organization both in terms of day-to-day operations and overall vision/commitment to get to the next level

   3. To help the league achieve an elite status and harness opportunities to gain national exposure for players by working with the regional conferences within the US, USACA, ICC and other national cricket boards.

7. What makes me a good candidate? – Three most important points

   1. I was the General Secretary of the Midwest Cricket Conference in 2006 and have a good understanding of what it takes to run our league.

   2. I bring fresh ideas to a league. I believe that the league has been bogged down by some of the decisions in the past that has hurt us from moving ahead.

   3. Good familiarity and standing with team personal and players throughout the league.

8. 
   

   What is working and what is not –

   1. Things that are working

      1. We successfully completed the season.

   2. 
      

      Top five most important things that are not working

      
      

      1. Ground conditions and quality of umpiring

      2. Lack of transparency in the decisions (financial management, relationship with USACA etc)

      3. Lack of coordination and communication affecting league operations

      4. Our relationship with USACA and other leagues in the US

      5. Lack of sponsors

9. If elected, what I will do –

   
   

   1. Most immediate needs

      1. Improve quality : Ground update and maintenance/management

      2. Umpiring and Match adjudication

      3. Effective and transparent communication between management and teams (Includes financials, scheduling, game conflicts etc.)

      4. Enforce harsher penalties in matters of discipline and apply it consistently

      5. Make sure we implement the rules that are defined in the constitution.

      
      

   2. Long-term goals

      1. Work with Central Region/USACA to utilize opportunities for MCC teams and players to gain exposure at the national stage

      2. Develop a marketing plan to elevate MCC to attract long-term sponsorship

      3. Develop long-term sustainable policies to manage the league effectively (Includes updates to the website, current outdated constitution, ground rules etc)

      4. Work with the youth academy. Develop a transition plan for the kids in the academy to play in our league. Also, develop a four year plan to have a minimum of 4 kids represent the US national youth team.

      5. Get operationally efficient and reduce costs.

10. Outline of how I will accomplish the tasks –

1. All in all, the position I am running for is a thankless job to a great extent. Its all about the interest and passion for the sport. So, I plan on soliciting and looking for interested and dedicated volunteers who are passionate and dedicated to help guide the MCC ship.

2. I truly believe that decentralization of power is the most effective form of management and governance. Develop teams and committees to effectively manage day-to-day operations and only report back to management.

3. Documentation is critical to good business practice. Make it a requirement to all committees to maintain documentation that would be accessible to teams for review.

4. Accountability drives success. Will hold key positions accountable on a regular basis to monitor operations and progress. Will be open to making dynamic changes both in personal and process during the year if things don’t work as expected/planned.

5. A true believer of competency over loyalty. I do understand loyalty goes a long way, but it’s just not good enough to be loyal and not be able to deliver results. Will try and strike a good balance between both aspects of management.

6. The discipline committee will be an autonomous body and will make recommendations regarding penalties, fines and suspension when teams/individuals breach the code of conduct.

7. Develop a robust website that has a better presentation layer and that will give more power to teams to accurately update scores and other key information.

8. Have an independent selection committee that will be responsible to select teams to represent the league in various tournaments

9. Have an independent fact finding and disciplinary committee that will be responsible to resolve disputes and taking appropriate action.

10. Have a rules committee to review the existing rules and get it as close as possible to the rules laid out by ICC.

11. Invest into umpiring training and encouraging teams to certify team members.

12. Identify key areas (such as ground maintenance) that can be outsourced.

13. Publish the entire schedule including the playoffs and the finals before the start of the season

14. Take a break during the season to conduct all-star games and organize a family event.

15. Assign umpires well in advance on a weekly basis. Request feedback regarding umpires to grade umpires on a scale of 1-10. Use the accumulated points to assign umpires for the playoffs and finals.

16. Gather data from the league members and use this data effectively to develop a strong marketing plan.

17. Revisit the 45 over rule in div-1. Open it up for voting.

18. Encourage teams to have a players union. Conduct frequent discussions between the management and players union

19. The financial committee will use the web version of quick books and publish the financials periodically on the website.

20. Research and inquire the possibility of Indoor facility

21. Split div-2 into div-2 and div-3 (from the idea page. This rule will be up for voting and will be enforced only from 2009 season and not 2008, if it gets passed)

22. Make umpiring mandatory for all teams.

23. Start the season in the last week of April

24. Increase the umpiring pay. Hold back $5 from each umpire (for every game) and add it into a growing “pot”. The highest ranked umpires from the regular get bonus from this “pot” of cash

25. Develop a framework for ensuring that games start and finish on time

26. Work with Teams to deal with managing games and schedule through Religious Requirements and Limitations such as Ramadan

27. Include a negative point column in the points table. Teams will get a negative point if the scores are not entered on time. We feel that this will incentivize teams to ensure that their scores are entered on time, thereby greatly reducing the net run rate confusion that surfaces towards the end of the season.

28. Develop and standardise a procedure that can be universally used by teams to approach park districts for grounds.