Agency :
The International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded three new countries membership status on Tuesday, 26 July during the ongoing ICC Annual Conference in Birmingham.
Cambodia and Uzbekistan from Asia, and Cote D’Ivoire from Africa, were all awarded Associate membership status, taking ICC’s total members to 108 countries, including 96 Associates.
The two Asian teams take the total count of Asian countries to 25 while Cote D’Ivoire is the 21st country from Africa.
A major criteria to gain ICC Membership is detailed in ‘Participation and domestic structures’ of Clause 2.1 (d) of the ICC Membership Criteria. This includes having in place a proper structure with minimum team requirements for 50-over and 20-over tournaments, aside from clear junior and women’s pathways.
The three new countries satisfied these conditions, with the Cricket Federation of Uzbekistan’s (CFU) women’s cricket plan involving 15 teams playing organised competitions with a pathway programme for their Under-19 and Under-17 players.
Côte d’Ivoire Cricket Federation has a strong grassroots programme and also runs a national league senior men’s competition with eight teams. Notably, they have also taken several initiatives to grow women’s cricket, including the appointment of a female Board member to drive this agenda.
