The International Cricket Council (ICC) was founded at Lord's on 15 June 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, with Australia, England, and South Africa as its founding members.^[1] Initially only the countries within the Commonwealth were able to join the ICC.^[2] India, New Zealand and the West Indies joined in 1926, and Pakistan joined in 1953 after the partition of India.^[3] In 1961, South Africa resigned from the Conference due to them leaving the Commonwealth,^[4] but they continued to play Test cricket until their international exile in 1970.^[5]

The Imperial Cricket Conference was renamed as the International Cricket Conference in 1965, with new rules permitting countries from outside the Commonwealth to be elected into the ICC for the first time: Fiji and the USA became the first associate member nations that year.^[4] In 1981, Sri Lanka became the first associate member to be elected a full member. In 1989, the ICC was again renamed as the International Cricket Council.^[4] South Africa was re-elected as a full member of the ICC in 1991, with Zimbabwe elected in 1992, and Bangladesh elected in 2000.^[3] On 22 June 2017, Ireland and Afghanistan were granted full member status as well.^[6]

From July to October 2019, the ICC suspended Zimbabwe due to government interference, the first time this had occurred with a full member side.^[7][8] From November 2023 to January 2024, the ICC suspended Sri Lanka due to government interference in the board.^[9]

The membership committee will consider requests for membership – full and associate – against an objective set of criteria. There was previously a third level, affiliate membership, which was abolished in June 2017, with all existing affiliate members becoming associate members,^[10] and introducing a two-tier hierarchy (full members and associate members): any new member elected to the ICC would be an associate member, with the possibility of promotion to full member status based on ongoing performance in international competitions.^[11]

In order for a nation to apply for associate membership they must meet 5 criteria given by the ICC:^[12][13]

1. An appropriate domestic cricket structure.
2. A recognized administrative governing body.
3. Proper domestic cricket competitions.
4. At least two cricket grounds in the country.
5. A "National Development Plan" and an annual budget.

For an associate member to apply for full membership they must have the following in-addition to the above criteria:^[12][13]

1. At least three appearances in men's Cricket World Cups or men's T20 World Cups in the last ICC men's hosts cycle.
2. Four wins against two or more full members over the last ICC men's hosts cycle.
3. At least one appearance in women's Cricket World Cup or women's T20 World Cup in the last ICC women's hosts cycle.
4. Currently present on the ICC Women's ODI Team Rankings.

If a member country (full or associate) fails to adhere to the ICC membership criteria, they will be suspended or expelled by the ICC.^[14][15]

Full members are the governing bodies for cricket of a country recognised by the ICC, which have a right to send a representative team to play official Test matches, have full voting rights at meetings of the ICC, and are automatically qualified to play One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.^[11] There are 12 full members.^[16][17]

The West Indies cricket team is a combined team representing 15 countries and territories from the Caribbean, while the English cricket team represents both England and Wales and the Irish cricket team represents all of the island of Ireland. Of these 12 nations, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Ireland played as associate members before being elected as full members. In April 2021, ICC granted permanent women's Test and women's One Day International status to all the full member nations.^[18]

Later in 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan and promptly banned women from sport; consequently, there have been calls to suspend Afghanistan's ICC membership.^[19] In 2023, Australia withdrew from a one-day series against Afghanistan to protest against the oppression of women in the country.^[20] The same year, Human Rights Watch called for Afghanistan's suspension.^[21] The Women's team, which was dissolved in 2021, has since written to the ICC requesting the formation of a refugee team based in Australia.^[22] In January 2025, the Afghanistan women's team played its first match since fleeing Afghanistan, an exhibition game in Melbourne.^[23]

† denotes countries taking part in the ICC World Test Championship.

Associate members are the governing bodies for cricket of a country recognised by the ICC, which does not qualify as a full member, but where cricket is firmly established and organised.^[11] There are 96 associate members, of which 5 have men's One Day International status, 2 have women's One Day International status and 3 have both men's and women's ODI status.^[16][17]

Until 2019, all associates were eligible to play in the World Cricket League, a series of international one-day cricket matches administered by the ICC which formed part of the Cricket World Cup qualification.^[36] From 2019 onwards this was replaced by the Cricket World Cup League 2 and Cricket World Cup Challenge League in which only the top twenty associates participate.^[37] Associates are also eligible to play in the T20 World Cup Regional Qualifiers (men's and women's) which forms part of the T20 World Cup qualification (men's and women's); until April 2018, only the teams qualified for final stage were awarded Twenty20 International status.^[38] In April 2018, the ICC announced T20I status for all its members from 1 July 2018 for the women's game, and from 1 January 2019 for the men's game.^[39]

† denotes associates with ODI status.

The ICC granted men's ODI status to its associate members based on their progress in the World Cricket League; the World Cricket League was replaced in 2019 and ODI status went to only the teams qualified for the Cricket World Cup Super League and CWC League 2.^[138] The CWC Super League was cancelled after the inaugural 2020–2023 Super League and ODI status now goes exclusively to teams participating in the CWC League 2.^[139] The Netherlands ensured they would regain ODI status after the completion of the 2018 CWC Qualifier, by winning the 2015–2017 WCL Championship. The next three highest placed associates in the qualifier (United Arab Emirates, Scotland and Nepal) also gained ODI status.^[140] Four additional teams (Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea and the United States) gained ODI status after the conclusion of the 2019 WCL Division Two tournament in April 2019.^[138]

On 25 May 2022, five associate teams (Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand and the United States) were granted women's ODI status by the ICC.^[141] After finishing as bottom two in the 2023 CWC Qualifier Play-off, Papua New Guinea lost their men's ODI status to Canada who finished in the top four of the 2023 Qualifier Play-off.^[142][143] On 2 May 2025, the ICC announced that United Arab Emirates would be replacing the United States from 12 May 2025 among the five associate teams, gaining women's ODI status.^[144]

In April 2018, the ICC announced Twenty20 International status for all members from 1 January 2019. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between ICC members since 1 January 2019 have been eligible for full T20I status.^[145][39]

Cuba was suspended in 2013 for failing to adhere to ICC's guidelines.^[15][14] Tonga was suspended in 2013 for not having a full-time administrator and was expelled in 2014.^[14][15] Brunei was suspended in 2014 for failing to comply with any of the ICC criteria and was expelled in 2015.^[15][14] Morocco was suspended in 2014 for non-compliant with four of the ICC criteria and was expelled in 2019^[15][146] Zambia was suspended in 2019 for non-compliant with ICC's finance statute and was expelled in 2021.^[15][14] Russia was suspended in 2021 for non-compliance with ICC and was expelled in 2022.^{[147][14][15]}

There are 5 regional bodies, that aim to organise, promote and develop the game of cricket in their respective regions.^[16]

The European Cricket Council which oversaw cricket in Europe from 1997 was dissolved in 2010, after ICC Europe overtook since 2008.^[148] The East African Cricket Conference which oversaw cricket in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia from 1966, was succeeded by the East and Central Africa Cricket Conference in 1989 which oversaw cricket in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi.^[149] The West Africa Cricket Council oversaw cricket in Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone from 1976.^[150] Both East and Central Africa Cricket Conference and West Africa Cricket Council were dissolved in 2003 following the creation of the Africa Cricket Association.^[151]

• ICC Members at icc-cricket.com
• ICC membership criteria
• National cricket teams at ESPNcricinfo