The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body was renamed as the International Cricket Conference and adopted its current name in 1987. The governing bodies for cricket of a country recognised by the ICC as members take part in the competitions organised by the ICC. It has two membership categories: full and associate. Full members have full voting rights at meetings of the ICC and are qualified to play Test cricket, One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). All associate members are eligible to play T20Is while only the top performing associates are eligible to play ODIs.

There are also 5 regional bodies under the ICC—Africa Cricket Association, ICC Americas, Asian Cricket Council, ICC East Asia-Pacific and ICC Europe—that aim to organise, promote and develop the game of cricket in their respective regions. As of July 2025, there are 110 ICC members, including 12 full members and 98 associate members. Of the associate members, 8 have men's ODI status and 5 have women's ODI status (3 have both).

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. Initially only the countries within the Commonwealth were able to join the ICC. India, New Zealand and the West Indies joined in 1926, and Pakistan joined in 1953 after the partition of India. In 1961, South Africa resigned from the Conference due to them leaving the Commonwealth, but they continued to play Test cricket until their international exile in 1970.

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. 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. South Africa was re-elected as a full member of the ICC in 1991, with Zimbabwe elected in 1992, and Bangladesh elected in 2000. On 22 June 2017, Ireland and Afghanistan were granted full member status as well.

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

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, 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.

In order for a nation to apply for associate membership they must meet 5 criteria given by the ICC:

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