The ICC have sent out a document to Associates and Affiliates as the first step to amending the rules which will allow the Associate and Affiliates to have more than a single Governing Body and giving the ICC the power to decide which one to recognize. All members have been requested to respond to the resolution by January 22nd.
Approval of such a move would have the greatest impact on the ongoing dispute between the USA Cricket Association and the American Cricket Federation.
It will also impact several other areas and maybe even Bermuda, over the years there has always been talk of another group starting a League in Bermuda, but it has never materialized, but with this latest announcement coming from the ICC, it may just see the rise of a group in a bid to be recognized as the Governing Body of Cricket in Bermuda.
Meanwhile, USACA had appeared set for a third suspension in a decade after it was put on notice in June for being in violation of Associate & Affiliate governance statute 3.1 which currently states that members must have a single, recognized Cricket Board. Member countries put on notice have one year to get their affairs in order, but should this resolution pass USA are less likely to be suspended.
Through statute 3.1, which is to be amended, the ICC recognizes a member board if it can provide a letter of support from their country's National Olympic Committee. USACA and ACF are understood to have been pursuing that letter over the last 18 months from the USOC, but neither group has obtained it. In its absence, another change in language for statute 3.1 would give ICC the authority to determine which of multiple boards receives recognition in a country where a dispute between competing boards arises.
According to the proposed changes, it is the ICC that would have final say over "the appropriate status, structure, recognition, membership and competence to be recognized by the ICC (at its absolute discretion) as the governing body responsible for the administration, management and development of cricket in the country."
The ICC felt the language of statute 3.1 "might cause some difficulties for Members, where the 'sole' governing body could be challenged if an alternative body existed in the same jurisdiction and sought also to claim governing body status."
So they circulated a document to its members for a review of the language. The document also emphasizes that, "For the avoidance of doubt, there can only be one ICC Member from any individual country, and in the event of a dispute, the ICC retains absolute discretion to determine which body (if any) to recognize as the sole ICC Member in that country."
The ICC's procedures also allow for a review of a cricket board's status as an Associate Member "at any time either by their Regional development manager or the ICC Global development manager."
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