Meet Clayton Lambert – USA National Team Coach

By Peter Simunovich

“There is nothing guaranteed, but if we play to our strength, I think we will have a pretty good chance.” Like every other top international playing country, Lambert expects leadership from within the team — he is relying on captain Steve Massiah, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington and Sudesh Dhaniram to step forward.”

Clayton Lambert, the United States senior cricket team coach, knows something about building an innings as a batsman. For almost a decade he was an opening batsman at first class and international level in the West Indies.
He played in seven Test matches with the West Indies before he moved to the US 11 years ago where played with the McNair Lions in the Georgia Supreme Cricket League. His injured knees have now virtually ended his career as a player.
But Lambert, 46, who is employed by the US Cricket Association on a tournament basis, has now thrown his weight into coaching the US team to try to reach the next level and play against the best players and teams in the world.
In February the US will compete in the International Cricket Conference World 20/20 Qualifier in Dubai and then the 50 overs World Cricket League Division 5 tournaments in Nepal.

A spot in the World Cup in both tournaments is at stake and Lambert, who works as an independent sub contractor in the freight business in Atlanta, Georgia, says the coming matches are critical for the future of the US in its bid to play at international level.
Failure is not an option for the US. It is as simple as that. There is a lot at stake riding on the Americans to make the next major move under the restructured US Cricket Association and direction of Don Lockerbie, the new Chief Executive Officer.
Lockerbie, in his first year as the administrative head of the game, made it clear when he took over about his aim for the US team to play against the world’s best at the highest level.
But as a former first class and international opening batsman, Lambert, who is also anxious for the US to climb to the top of the cricket mountain, knows it takes time to build on a successful innings. The foundation has to be laid first and the US has been trying to do this for the past few years.

Lambert described the US team as “very good,” and added that “more or less we are in charge of our destiny.” He expects the team to do well, but as a coach he would have liked to have the team practice together a lot more and longer than they have.
The opportunity for the team to work together had been curtailed because of logistics and the current lagging economy.
It is a major difficulty for Lambert, but it is something he has learned to live with because right now the weak economy does not allow the US cricket board to fly its national team to one city for several days of practice.
He would have preferred to have the players to work together and to get to know each other better, but he also understands the financial plight that cricket is now facing. Lambert has to turn the page and rely on coaching the team by ‘phone and the Internet.
The dotcom and cell ‘phones communication has made the world smaller, but it does not help in coaching a national cricket team preparing for an important international schedule.

“It can be frustrating, but the team is like brothers. They have trust in each other,” said Lambert. “We need to revel in each other’s success. That, I think, is a major strength.”

Despite the logistical problems, Lambert believes and has faith in his players and is quietly confident they will wear the colors of the US proudly and, hopefully, have success and advance to the World Cup.

“All we can do is to go out there and play our best,” said Lambert. “Most teams in the 20/20 tournament are high powered and will be well prepared. We have a wealth of talent, but talent comes down to how you use it.
“There is nothing guaranteed, but if we play to our strength, I think we will have a pretty good chance.”
Like every other top international playing country, Lambert expects leadership from within the team — he is relying on captain Steve Massiah, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington and Sudesh Dhaniram to step forward.

“Massiah has been very good in the US,” he said. Massiah has said in the past that he likes to lead by example and for years he has been itching to play at an international level to test his skills as a player and captain.
Lambert is a firm believer that the talent has always been in the US, and now the team is getting more opportunities to showcase its ability. He said: “I would be very surprised if cricket (in the US) doesn’t take off from now on.”  When told that the US needed positive results, Lambert said: “Of course.”

He described the team as having “a lot more enthusiasm” than in the past and the “guys are hungry” for success and international competition.

Lambert said that the players, who lost in the 50 over qualifier for the World Cup in Jersey several years ago, were still hurting and would try to use the coming tournaments to correct their past failure.
“The first step to redemption was winning the Americas Cup and now these tournaments are the second step,” he said.

The US squad: Timroy Allen, Imran Awan, Orlando Baker, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Sudesh Dhaniram, Glen Hall, Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah (Capt.), Sushil Nadkarni, Usman Shuja, Aditya Thyagarajan, Saurabh Verma, Clain Williams and Carl Wright. Officials: Imran Khan (Manager), Clayton Lambert (Coach), and Akhtar Masood Syed (Physio).