Four new members admitted to ICC

Ehsan Mani: 'It is a tribute to the ICC Development Program that new members are being accepted into the ICC family on a regular basis.' © Getty Images

The ICC today announced the outcomes of the ICC Executive Board meeting and ICC Annual Conference that took place on 27 and 28 June at Lord's Cricket Ground.

The ICC Annual Conference approved applications from Jersey, Guernsey, Mali and Slovenia as Affiliate members, and upgraded Belgium, Botswana, Japan, Kuwait and Thailand from Affiliate to Associate status. This takes the total membership of the ICC to 96 countries.

Welcoming the approval of the new member countries, ICC's president, Ehsan Mani, said: "It is a tribute to the ICC Development Program that new members are being accepted into the ICC family on a regular basis. For Jersey, Guernsey, Mali and Slovenia the reward is newly-acquired status as Affiliate members while Belgium, Botswana, Japan, Kuwait and Thailand have all demonstrated to our other members they have the necessary structures in place to take the step up to Associate member status."

The ICC Executive Board approved a proposal for the staging of a Scheduling Summit to explore the detailed and practical implications of moving the Future Tours Programme from its current five-year cycle to a longer cycle of home and away international fixtures.

The Summit will be held at the ICC offices in Dubai on 25 and 26 August and will be attended by representatives of all 10 Full Member countries, together with a representative of the top six Associate Members, a player representative and a delegate from the Asian Cricket Council.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India notified the ICC Executive Board that it intends to dispute the process that was used to deal with the appeal of India's captain, Sourav Ganguly, under the ICC Code of Conduct.

The ICC, through its president, Ehsan Mani, has agreed that should the BCCI wish to take this matter further it must write to the ICC which would then refer this to the ICC Disputes Resolution Committee.

The ICC Executive Board comprises the presidents/chairmen or designated nominees of the 10 Test-playing nations and three representatives from ICC Associate Member countries:

The ICC Executive Board is the ultimate policy-making body within the ICC. Commercial matters are dealt with by the IDI Board which will meet on Wednesday, June 29, in Dublin. The composition of the IDI Board is currently the same as the composition of the ICC Executive Board.