Feature

USACA pay the price for mounting debts, maladministration

ESPNcricinfo presents the five main factors that led to the ICC suspending the USACA from its membership

USA have not qualified for a major ICC tournament since the 2004 Champions Trophy  •  Peter Della Penna

USA have not qualified for a major ICC tournament since the 2004 Champions Trophy  •  Peter Della Penna

Finances
The ICC had been keeping an eye on USACA's mounting debts, currently over $4 million, for some time but the board put USACA under increased scrutiny resonating from a $200,000 loan given to USACA in the summer of 2013 while Darren Beazley was chief executive. Not only did USACA fail to pay back the loan in timely fashion, but the ICC held serious doubts that the money was used for its intended purposes. As a result, they warned USACA that suspension could be triggered with immediate effect.
Elections
USACA's 2011 and 2014 elections were not held in accordance with its constitution and wound up being delayed into the subsequent calendar year. In 2011, two thirds of its members were barred from voting. The consequences of that were that the ICC withheld quarterly scorecard Associate funding grants on each occasion.
Commercial exposure
USACA had authority to grant or deny sanctioning for all cricket held in the country. On two occasions, in 2010 and 2012, New Zealand staged matches in Florida with the 2012 series against West Indies being a commercial success. USACA refused to sanction events far more often though in New York and Florida after quibbling over rights fees. This included a Pakistan tour and Caribbean Premier League matches. The ICC was also concerned that USACA had signed away future revenue rights to the group known as Cricket Holdings America.
National team performance
N Srinivasan made special mention of the fact in a January letter to USACA that the ICC was disappointed that USA was stuck in Division Four of the World Cricket League. USA have one of the largest player pools among Associate nations, but since their appearance in the 2004 Champions Trophy, they have not qualified for a major ICC tournament.
Rivalry with ACF
USACA has had governance battles in the past, which played a role in prior suspensions. The situation reared its head again with the formation of the American Cricket Federation. More than a dozen leagues discontinued their USACA membership after being denied the right to vote in 2012, and jumped on board with the ACF, putting a serious dent in USACA's standing as the governing body in charge of the development of cricket in the country as stipulated in the ICC's Associate Membership criteria.

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent. @PeterDellaPenna