New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced that it has suspended USA Cricket’s membership with immediate effect owing to “repeated and continued breaches” of its obligations as a member of the ICC. The decision was in the making for a long time after ICC granted three months to USAC in July this year to conduct “free and fair elections” and carry out governance reforms within the cricket body.
However, ICC seems to have run out of patience over no affirmative action from the office bearers of the USAC. In a statement released on Wednesday, ICC stated that the decision to suspend USA Cricket’s membership was taken after a thorough review of the affairs and engagements with the key stakeholders.
The decision was taken at an ICC Board meeting following a year-long review of the situation at the USAC. In its statement, ICC confirmed that USA Cricket’s failure to implement a functional governance structure, the lack of progress in securing National Governing Body status from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), and repeated breaches of its obligations as a member under the ICC’s constitution led to the decision to suspend the board.
“The decision, taken by the ICC Board during its meeting earlier, was based on USA Cricket’s repeated and continued breaches of its obligations as a ICC Member under the ICC’s Constitution,” ICC said in a statement.
“These include, but are not limited to, the failure to implement a functional governance structure, lack of progress toward achieving National Governing Body status with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), and significant actions that have caused reputational damage to cricket in the United States and around the world,” added the world governing body of cricket.