The USA National Cricket League (NCL) has been banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for violating the player composition rules.
This was the inaugural edition of the tournament and the ICC has informed the USA Cricket (USAC) that they won’t sanction the future editions of the league. As reported by Cricbuzz, the tournament required to field seven USAC-affiliated or associate players.
The ICC has implemented stricter rules and regulations for T10 and T20 leagues around the globe. The NCL had appointed big names in the cricketing world like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram and Vivian Richards as their brand ambassadors.
Despite all this, the tournament faced operational issues from the start. The tournament started on 5th October 2024 and the final was played on 15th October 2024. A total of 19 matches were played in the league.
Players like Dawid Malan, Chris Lynn, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, etc played in the league.
On and off-field problems with the NCL: ICC in its letter to USAC
The ICC wrote a letter to the USA Cricket (USAC) and it mentioned the ‘on and off-field problems’ in the tournament. The drop in pitch used in the league was not up to the mark. Bowlers like Tymal Mills and Wahab Riaz were forced to bowl spin to avoid any harm/injuries to the batters.

There were quite a few instances of violation of the domestic players rule. Many times around 6-7 overseas players were present on the field in the tournament. There were visa issues for the overseas players as well.
For the overseas players in a six-team tournament, it generally costs @200, 000 to sponsor category visas for the players. According to Cricbuzz, not all the players participating in the tournament had valid sports visas.
The USA has emerged as a popular choice in T10 and T20 leagues as many players have migrated there in search of opportunities in cricket leagues. The ICC receives the most number of applications for sanctioning T20 and T10 leagues from the USA.