Despite their recent 3-0 success over Bermuda in Twenty20 practice matches in Florida, there is unrest within the United States team ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Dubai.

A bizarre sequence of events in the last couple of weeks has seen Neil McGarrell replace Steve Massiah as captain of the team after he stood down from a position he held for the last seven years. Massiah was named in the 15-member squad to travel to Duba but two changes were made to the squad after it had been submitted to the organisers.

Andy Pick, USACA (USA Cricket Association) High Performance Manager, subsequently quit after just two months in the post, citing unprofessionalism with the USACA over the team selection.

Twenty one-year-old Fahad Babar, who was in the original squad and then replaced along with Ritesh Kadu in favour of Imran Awan and Barrington Bartley, has now been returned to the squad as a replacement for Massiah, 34, who recently withdrew over work commitments.

Pick, a regular visitor to Bermuda who was last here in August to help the Bermuda Cricket Board develop programmes, quit his post following the team’s recent training camp in Florida, during which a series of incidents occurred that Pick said were not in line with how a professional organisation should operate.

Pick expressed displeasure with the squad selection process following a request from the USACA to the ICC to change two players in the squad after the final list of 15 players had already been submitted by the original tournament deadline of October 15.