Afghanistan and Ireland became Cricket’s 11th & 12th Full members when ICC (International Cricket Council) approved their applications in their Annual General Meeting held in London in June 2017. It was after a gap of 17 years when Bangladesh were given their Full membership in 2001. Let us view some of the performance criteria’s which are considered while reviewing a country’s application for Full membership by ICC:
To be considered eligible for membership as a Full Member of the ICC, the Associate Member must satisfy the following membership criteria in terms of performance
- (A) Performance
- (i) Either feature on the ICC’s official ODI rankings table and/or have finished first or second in at least one edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup over the previous eight (8) years;
- (ii) Have participated in at least three ICC Cricket World Cups and/or ICC World T20 events in the previous eight (8) years;
- (iii) Have registered victories over at least: (a) one (1) Full Member team (who was ranked in the top ten of the official ICC ODI or T20I rankings (as applicable) at the time of relevant victory) in the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICC CWC Qualifier, the ICC World T20 and/or the ICC World T20 Qualifier; and (b) four (4) victories against two (2) or more Full Member teams (who were ranked in the top ten of the official ICC ODI or T20I rankings (as applicable) at the time of relevant victory) in bilateral ODI and/or T20I cricket; in both cases over the previous eight (8) years;
- (iv) Have either (a) participated in at least one (1) ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup or ICC Women’s World T20 over the previous four (4) years or (b) currently feature on the ICC’s official women’s rankings table; and
- (v) Have participated in at least two (2) editions of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in the last eight (8) years.
- (B) Participation and domestic structures
- (i) Have in place domestic participation structures which include:
- a. National 50-over tournament structures, which comprise at least three (3) teams, with
- List A status;
- b. National 20-over tournament structures, which comprise at least three (3) teams, with
- List A Twenty20 status;
- (ii) Have satisfactory junior pathway structures in place;
- (iii) Have satisfactory women’s pathway structures in place;
- (iv) Have a sustained and sufficient pool of players to support strong and consistent national level selection across the senior men’s, U19 and women’s teams; and
- (v) Have strong domestic participation levels in the sport and evidence of significant growth over the previous eight (8) years.
- (C) Infrastructure
- (i) Have access to at least two (2) ODI venues accredited by the ICC for Full Member matches; and
- (ii) Have appropriate venues and facilities to support and sustain the domestic tournament
- structures including those described in (d)(i) above.
- (f) Development program
- (i) Have implemented over the previous four (4) years a coordinated and developed general coaching and talent identification program which has as its primary aim the increase of the level of awareness and enjoyment of cricket by participation of all ages; and
- (ii) Have implemented over the previous four (4) years a coordinated and developed program to train coaches, umpires, curators and scorers.
- recognition and support from the relevant national
- government agency/department responsible for sport in the relevant country as well as any other information which demonstrates that the Applicant has (among other things) the appropriate status, structure, recognition, membership and competence to be recognized by the ICC (at its absolute discretion) as the primary governing body responsible for the administration, management and development of cricket in the country.
