The ICC has told USA Cricket (USAC) that it could be “put on notice” for not following the rules of its Associate membership standing.
This comes just one month after the last game of the country’s historic first-ever ICC global event. The USA and the West Indies co-hosted the T20 World Cup in June.
Games were held at three different locations as the ICC worked toward its long-term goal of expanding into North America.
But the warning, which says USAC might be in breach on two counts. Shows how hard that goal is to reach.
One worry is that USAC isn’t following the rules set by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
For good governance so it can become a National Governing Body (NGB).
Which is required for all the sports that were added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles last year.
On the second, the ICC scolded USAC for not having a “fit-for-purpose administrative structure.”
For example, it didn’t fill the CEO post after firing the previous one just a few months into the job.
According to a note sent recently by the ICC to all of its members. USA Cricket is currently not meeting the requirements.
For becoming an ICC Associate Member (2.2(b)(i) (governance structure) and 2.2(b)(ii) (administrative and executive structure).
The AGM for the ICC will take place on July 22 in Colombo, right after the ICC Board meets.
Five-page Document
The five-page document, which was sent on July 11, was called “Associate Member Membership Update” and was looking at.
The ICC said that the USOPC had “expressed serious concerns” about how USAC was run.
“The USOPC wrote to the USAC to say that they are very worried about how the USAC is being run right now.
Even though this doesn’t break the ICC Membership Criteria. It does show that there are bigger problems with how USAC is run.
But USOPC said that if USAC doesn’t get NGB certification. They will have to start the process of recognizing a different NGB for cricket.
ICC Membership Criteria
This could be against ICC Membership Criteria, which say that the ICC must be “recognized by the ICC (at its absolute discretion).
As the primary governing body responsible for the administration, management, and development of cricket (men’s and women’s) in its country.”
United States has been warned twice this year by the ICC. The ICC sent letter to USAC after its March quarterly meeting bringing it to its attention on a number of problems.
It warned USAC that it was not doing enough to become USOPC compliant.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) also brought up the fact. That it does not have a CEO and has not appointed an independent director to its Board since Dr. Noor Mohammad Murad was fired.
The ICC CEO, Geoff Allardice, sent that email to USAC chair Venu Piske 6 days after the ICC Board met in Dubai.
Piske was voted to the post in July 2023. The ICC Board knew that the USA was “important” as a “cricket territory,” as Allardice wrote in the email. But the board also knew that USAC had a “long history of problems.”
ICC Board
The ICC Board even thought about suspending USAC’s membership in March for “serious breach of membership obligations.”
However, Allardice said that doing so would make it harder for the USA. To prepare for the 2024 T20 World Cup, so it did not happen. The ICC Board instead chose to give USAC one “last chance” to “fix” the problems with not following the rules.
As a main punishment, ICC Board stopped giving USAC its yearly funding until it met all of its membership requirements.
From April to July, “controlled funding” was allowed on a “exceptional basis” “so that cricket in the USA would not be prejudiced.”
While the T20 World Cup was going on, ICC chair Greg Barclay and Allardice told USAC again. That it could be banned if it didn’t follow the rules for membership.
Now, in the July AGM note, the ICC said that the USAC was still breaking the rules and suggested that they be punished more severely.
“USAC still doesn’t have an administrative structure that works for its needs.” Unfortunately, USAC no longer has a CEO because they fired their last one after only a few months on the job.
There are now people being hired to replace the CEO. The Development Manager and the Women’s Manager, who were the only two people still working for USAC Development, quit in April.
Getting new people to replace these ones has not yet begun. At the moment, temporary and part-time workers are filling in as replacement staff.
ICC’s Letter to USAC
“It is Management’s view that USAC has not remedied all areas of non-compliance as outlined in the ICC’s letter to USAC dated 21 March, 2024, and is therefore at risk of being placed ‘On Notice’.”
In its first answer, which it sent to the ICC on July 12, USAC is thought to have told them that it had hired Pintoo Shah as an independent director who would also be in charge as Treasurer.
His choice was approved by the USAC Board the same day.
USAC said that the delay in filling the independent post was because it had to change its constitution to comply with USOPC rules.
Email from USA Cricket
Also in the email from USAC to top USOPC officials, it was said that the ICC was being too harsh by threatening “drastic action” while the USOPC was trying hard to follow the rules. USAC said it only learned about the NGB approval process on January 24.
It was therefore unreasonable to expect it to be in line by March, when the ICC sent the first warning, especially since USOPC needed to receive compliance reports by September 30.
The company that is looking for a new CEO said that it got a lot of applications when it posted the job in April.
And chose a few candidates while keeping ICC Americas informed. It is thought that the new USAC CEO will be chosen right after the ICC AGM.
To read our blog on “Jay Shah on the new run in ICC elections,” click here
