The International Cricket Council has suspended USA Cricket’s membership with immediate effect.
Although the move followed “repeated and continued breaches of its obligations as an ICC member under the ICC’s constitution”, it will not stop the United States team from participating at events, including preparations for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
They will feature at February’s Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
The management and administration of the US national teams will temporarily be overseen by the ICC.
The constitutional breaches listed by the ICC include failing to implement a functional governance structure and a lack of progress towards achieving national governing body (NGB) status with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
It also highlighted unspecified “significant actions that caused reputational damage to cricket in the United States and around the world”.
NGB status is required for a sport to take place at the Olympics, where cricket is due to return after a 128-year absence.
USA Cricket was previously placed “on notice” at the 2024 ICC annual general meeting (AGM) for “non-compliance with membership criteria” and given 12 months to fix the issues.
Following July’s AGM, the governing body confirmed USA Cricket remained on notice, with the caveat that the ICC board “reserves the right to take such actions as it deems appropriate”.
At the time, BBC Sport had seen evidence that USA Cricket had addressed five of the eight issues flagged last year relating to governance, finance and administration.
The US have been an associate member of the ICC since 1965 and featured at the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, reaching the Super 8 stage to earn automatic qualification for the 2026 tournament.
USA Cricket chief executive Johnathan Atkeison told BBC Sport in a statement: “We were informed by the ICC of the decision to suspend USA Cricket.
“Obviously, we are disappointed, but we are awaiting further information from them regarding the conditions for reinstatement so that we can evaluate the path forward.”
Source: BBC
--Agencies
