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In the cricket terms, it’s definitely a slump. (And yes, for reference, it means the exact same thing as it does in baseball: Poor performance by a player over an extended period of time.)
The International Cricket Board has suspended USA Cricket as a NGB because of continued breaches of its obligations as an ICC Member under the ICC’s Constitution. Just days ago, USA Cricket filed for bankruptcy.
And both those occurrences might have caught casual followers by surprise. After all, the last time, many in the USA heard about cricket here, it was a celebration when, during 2024 T20 World Cup play, Team USA pull off a stunning upset win over global power Pakistan.
But for those who follow the world of cricket, the storm clouds had been gathering. In late spring, USA Cricket had narrowly avoided suspension from the ICC because of problems pertaining to its governance structure, including the fact that elections were not being held to replace Board Members whose terms had expired.
Word of these problems had reached the ears of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, who demanded. the immediate resignation of the full Board of Directors of USA Cricket.
By July, the ICC demanded a reset from USA Cricket, asking for its resignation. USA Cricket, it noted, had failed to comply with the processes set forth by the USOPC in order to secure national governing body status (mandatory for all sports to be added to LA28 Games).
The ICC’s message included what became known as a “roadmap” that USA Cricket needed to follow, including:
- Removal of its existing independent directors and replacing them with new individuals who would be approved by ICC.
- All existing directors would need to serve a mandatory two-year cooling-off period prior to running for election again
- The resignation of the USA Cricket Board
- USA Cricket would apply for NGB status with USOPC.
Unfortunately, things did not improve. USA Cricket chairman Venu Pisike flew in the face of orders by advising USAC board members not to resign, actively rejecting the resignation of independent director Pintoo Sha and then removing from the board player-director Nadia Gruny, who had expressed a willingness to comply with the ICC and USOPC.
In late August, USA Cricket terminated its partnership with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), the owners of Major League Cricket (MLC), stating that ACE had failed to meet its contractual and fiduciary obligations. (This announcement came two weeks after USA Cricket made announcements in support of MLC, and became a point of argument with ACE, who clapped back at the allegations.)
On September 23, ICC announced it had suspended USA Cricket’s membership. The management and administration of Team USA will be (for now) overseen by ICC, and those teams will retain their right to participate in ICC events, including preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
That leads us to October 1, when USA Cricket announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In that announcement, USA Cricket CEO Johnathan Atkeison emphasized the decision was made in order to “reorganize financially, give the organization time to address concerns raised by the International Cricket Council and to level the playing field against powerful entities that seek to exploit the American arm of the sport “(one of these entities was later defined as ACE).
“This Chapter 11 filing is a decisive move to secure our ability to address the patently inequitable contracts of the past, correct our financial situation, achieve governance reforms and finally build the world-class NGB America deserves, with an eye toward LA2028. We look forward to sharing more of our story over the coming days,” said Atkeison.
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