The

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC) is the global

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In 1965, the body was renamed as the International Cricket Conference and adopted its current name in 1987. The governing bodies for cricket of a country recognised by the ICC as members take part in the competitions organised by the ICC. It has two membership categories: full and associate. Full members have full voting rights at meetings of the ICC and are qualified to play

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s (ODIs) and

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

s (T20Is). All associate members are eligible to play T20Is while only the top performing associates are eligible to play ODIs. There are also 5 regional bodies under the ICC— Africa Cricket Association, ICC Americas,

Asian Cricket Council The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is a cricket organization which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of Cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional administrati ...

ICC East Asia-Pacific ICC East Asia-Pacific is the International Cricket Council region responsible for administration of the sport of Cricket in East Asia and the Pacific area; Oceania. The ICC EAP was founded in 1996. It is subordinate to the International Cricket ...

and ICC Europe—that aim to organise, promote and develop the game of cricket in their respective regions. As of February 2024, there are 108 ICC members, with 12 full members and 96 associate members, of which 5 have men's ODI status, 2 have women's ODI status and 3 have both men's and women's ODI status.

History

The

(ICC) was founded at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

on 15 June 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, with

, and

as its founding members. Initially only the countries within the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

were able to join the ICC.

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

joined in 1926, and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

joined in 1953 after the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. In 1961,

resigned from the Conference due to them leaving the Commonwealth, but they continued to play Test cricket until their international exile in 1970. The Imperial Cricket Conference was renamed as the International Cricket Conference in 1965, with new rules permitting countries from outside the Commonwealth to be elected into the ICC for the first time:

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and the USA became the first associate member nations that year. In 1981,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

became the first associate member to be elected a full member. In 1989, the ICC was again renamed as the International Cricket Council. South Africa was re-elected as a full member of the ICC in 1991, with

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

elected in 1992, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

elected in 2000. On 22 June 2017,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

were granted full member status as well. From July to October 2019, the ICC suspended Zimbabwe due to government interference, the first time this had occurred with a full member side. From November 2023 to January 2024, the ICC suspended Sri Lanka due to government interference in the board.

Selection and promotion

The membership committee will consider requests for membership – full and associate – against an objective set of criteria. There was previously a third level, affiliate membership, which was abolished in June 2017, with all existing affiliate members becoming associate members, and introducing a two-tier

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy ...

(full members and associate members): any new member elected to the ICC would be an associate member, with the possibility of promotion to full member status based on ongoing performance in international competitions.

Membership criteria

In order for a nation to apply for associate membership they must meet 5 criteria given by the ICC: # An appropriate domestic cricket structure. # A recognized administrative governing body. # Proper domestic cricket competitions. # At least two cricket grounds in the country. # A "National Development Plan" and an annual budget. For an associate member to apply for full membership they must have the following in-addition to the above criteria: # At least three appearances in men's

Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...

s or men's T20 World Cups in the last ICC men's hosts cycle. # Four wins against two or more full members over the last ICC men's hosts cycle. # At least one appearance in

women's Cricket World Cup The Women's Cricket World Cup is the quadrennial international championship of Women's One Day International Cricket tournament. Matches are played as One Day Internationals over 50 overs per team. There is also another championship for Tw ...

or women's T20 World Cup in the last ICC women's hosts cycle. # Currently present on the ICC Women's ODI Team Rankings. If a member country (full or associate) fails to adhere to the ICC membership criteria, they will be suspended or expelled by the ICC.

Full members

Full members are the governing bodies for cricket of a country recognised by the ICC, which have a right to send a representative team to play official

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

matches, have full voting rights at meetings of the ICC, and are automatically qualified to play

s and

s. There are 12 full members. The West Indies cricket team is a combined team representing 15 countries and territories from the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, while the English cricket team represents both

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

and the Irish cricket team represents all of the island of Ireland. Of these 12 nations, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Ireland played as associate members before being elected as full members. In April 2021, ICC granted permanent women's Test and women's One Day International status to all the full member nations. Later in 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan and promptly banned women from sport; consequently, there have been calls to suspend Afghanistan's ICC membership. In 2023, Australia withdrew from a one-day series against Afghanistan to protest against the oppression of women in the country. The same year,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

called for Afghanistan's suspension. The Women's team, which was dissolved in 2021, has since written to the ICC requesting the formation of a refugee team based in Australia. In January 2025, the Afghanistan women's team played its first match since fleeing Afghanistan, an exhibition game in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. '' denotes countries taking part in the ICC World Test Championship.''

Associate members

Associate members are the governing bodies for cricket of a country recognised by the ICC, which does not qualify as a full member, but where cricket is firmly established and organised. There are 96 associate members, of which 5 have men's One Day International status, 2 have women's One Day International status and 3 have both men's and women's ODI status. Until 2019, all associates were eligible to play in the World Cricket League, a series of international one-day cricket matches administered by the ICC which formed part of the Cricket World Cup qualification. From 2019 onwards this was replaced by the Cricket World Cup League 2 and Cricket World Cup Challenge League in which only the top twenty associates participate. Associates are also eligible to play in the T20 World Cup Regional Qualifiers ( men's and women's) which forms part of the T20 World Cup qualification ( men's and women's); until April 2018, only the teams qualified for final stage were awarded

status. In April 2018, the ICC announced T20I status for all its members from 1 July 2018 for the women's game, and from 1 January 2019 for the men's game. '' denotes associates with ODI status.''

Associate members with ODI status

The ICC granted men's ODI status to its associate members based on their progress in the World Cricket League; the World Cricket League was replaced in 2019 and ODI status went to only the teams qualified for the Cricket World Cup Super League and CWC League 2. The CWC Super League was cancelled after the inaugural 2020–2023 Super League and ODI status now goes exclusively to teams participating in the CWC League 2. The

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

ensured they would regain ODI status after the completion of the 2018 CWC Qualifier, by winning the 2015–2017 WCL Championship. The next three highest placed associates in the qualifier (

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

) also gained ODI status. Four additional teams (

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) gained ODI status after the conclusion of the 2019 WCL Division Two tournament in April 2019. On 25 May 2022, five associate teams (

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and the

) were granted women's ODI status by the ICC. After finishing as bottom two in the 2023 CWC Qualifier Play-off, Papua New Guinea lost their men's ODI status to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

who finished in the top four of the 2023 Qualifier Play-off. On 2 May 2025, the ICC announced that

would be replacing the United States from 12 May 2025 among the five associate teams, gaining women's ODI status.

Associate members with T20I status

In April 2018, the ICC announced Twenty20 International status for all members from 1 January 2019. Therefore, all

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches played between ICC members since 1 January 2019 have been eligible for full T20I status.

Former members

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

was suspended in 2013 for failing to adhere to ICC's guidelines.

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

was suspended in 2013 for not having a full-time administrator and was expelled in 2014.

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

was suspended in 2014 for failing to comply with any of the ICC criteria and was expelled in 2015.

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

was suspended in 2014 for non-compliant with four of the ICC criteria and was expelled in 2019

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

was suspended in 2019 for non-compliant with ICC's finance statute and was expelled in 2021.

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

was suspended in 2021 for non-compliance with ICC and was expelled in 2022.

Regional bodies

There are 5 regional bodies, that aim to organise, promote and develop the game of

in their respective regions. The European Cricket Council which oversaw cricket in Europe from 1997 was dissolved in 2010, after ICC Europe overtook since 2008. The East African Cricket Conference which oversaw cricket in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia from 1966, was succeeded by the East and Central Africa Cricket Conference in 1989 which oversaw cricket in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi. The West Africa Cricket Council oversaw cricket in Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone from 1976. Both East and Central Africa Cricket Conference and West Africa Cricket Council were dissolved in 2003 following the creation of the Africa Cricket Association.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

ICC Members
at icc-cricket.com
ICC membership criteria

National cricket teams
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:ICC members

members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...