US's ICC membership suspended

New York - The USA Cricket Association's (USACA) membership of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been suspended with immediate effect, the sport's governing body said on Friday.

The decision to suspend USACA was made after findings set out in an ICC review group report expressed "significant concerns about the governance, finance, reputation and cricketing activities of USACA."

"The ICC Board has made this difficult decision in the best interest of the game and all cricketers in the USA," ICC chairman Narayanaswami Srinivasan said in a statement.

"The country has tremendous potential but because of governance, financial and cricketing challenges, the opportunity to grow the game is not being properly nurtured."

The suspension means USACA will not get ICC funding but the sport's governing body said the U.S. will be able to play in next month's ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers in Ireland and Scotland.

The ICC board put USACA on notice in January hoping it would urgently address and improve areas identified as weaknesses but the ICC believes the response has been inadequate.

To have its suspension lifted and membership reinstated, the ICC said USACA must demonstrate that conditions relating to governance, finance and its cricket activities have been addressed and remedied in full.