ICC defers decision on USACA status until June

The ICC board has decided that any formal decision on suspending the USA's Associate membership status will not be taken until the ICC annual conference this June in Barbados. In a press release following Thursday's board meeting in Dubai, however, the ICC said it was "not satisfied" that the USA Cricket Association is compliant with all of its membership obligations.

In the interim, ICC chief executive David Richardson will lead a task force to USA at some point in the next two months to "meet relevant stakeholders in USA cricket in order to prepare a comprehensive report". This report will be reviewed at the ICC annual conference in Barbados.

The outcome is another reprieve for USACA after it was put on notice at last year's annual conference in Melbourne for being in violation of governance statute 3.1, which relates to the ICC member being the sole governing body for cricket in a country. A resolution was passed in January removing the stipulation but the member must instead prove it is the body "responsible for the administration, management and development of cricket in the country."

In a country where there is a dispute between two rival boards - as is the current situation in USA, with the clash between USACA and the American Cricket Federation - the ICC will recognise a member board if it can provide a letter of support from the country's National Olympic Committee. Neither USACA nor ACF has been able to secure a letter of affirmation from the USOC. In the absence of such a letter, the ICC has the power to determine which among multiple boards will receive its recognition.

The ICC sent a letter to USACA dated January 28 outlining numerous governance violations by the American body. One of the issues was that USACA's general elections for both 2012 and 2015 violated its own constitution because the elections should have been held by November 30, 2011 and 2014. Another issue was that USACA has allegedly breached a Memorandum of Understanding related to the terms of a $200,000 loan from the ICC with the ICC concerned that some of the money was spent to repay USACA's mounting legal fees instead of being used for administrative costs associated with cricket activities.

USACA has also been in violation of Associate Membership statute 2.1, which mandates a full-time chief executive or general manager be employed along with another full-time development officer. USACA's chief executive position has been vacant since Darren Beazley announced his resignation in March 2014 while Andy Pick resigned as USACA's High Performance Manager in October 2013 after two months in the role due, in part, to interference in squad selection for the ICC World T20 Qualifier, which was held that November in the UAE.

The letter to USACA, signed by ICC president N Srinivasan, stated that "unless USACA is able to remedy the concerns above to the board's satisfaction," the ICC would consider suspending USACA "with immediate effect and no further notice."

American Cricket Federation chief executive Jamie Harrison had led an online campaign over the past week to garner support for the ICC to suspend USACA. Although that did not occur, the ACF issued a statement on Thursday in which it supported the ICC's announcement of a task force being sent to meet with stakeholders in America.

"Today's decision by the ICC validates the ACF's long-standing position that all relevant stakeholders in the USA need to be heard," the statement said. "ACF welcomes this opportunity to sit across the table from representatives of the ICC and discuss with them the future of the game in America."