In 1965, the Imperial Cricket Conference changed its name to the International Cricket Conference. In addition, new rules were adopted to permit the election of countries from outside the Commonwealth. This led to the expansion of the Conference, with the admission of Associate Members, including the United States. Today cricket is played in all fifty states.[17]
The USA have played in every edition of the ICC Trophy, though they didn't pass the first round until the 1990 tournament in the Netherlands. They reached the plate final of the 1994 tournament, but opted not to play due to prior travel arrangements. They finished twelfth in 1997 and sixth in 2001, their best performance to date. They have also played in every edition of the ICC Americas Championship, winning in 2002.[18]
In 2004, the United States cricket team played a first-class match as part of the first ICC Intercontinental Cup. The matches against Canada and Bermuda were the first in many years.[18] The team won the ICC 6 Nations Challenge beating Scotland, Namibia, the Netherlands, and the UAE on net run rate by 0.028 of a run.[19]
Winning the ICC Six Nations meant that they qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy 2004 in England. Here the USA played their first ever One Day International match against New Zealand at The Oval on 10 September 2004.[20] The US side was beaten by New Zealand and lost to Australia in the tournament, as well.[21]
The 2005 ICC Trophy represented a chance for the USA to re-establish themselves on the world stage and qualify for the 2007 World Cup. A poor showing saw them finish at the bottom of their group, with four losses and a match abandoned due to rain from their five group fixtures. This failure robbed the USA of the prize of full One Day International status on offer to the World Cup qualifiers.[18] This failure was compounded on August 9, 2005 when the ICC expelled the USA from the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup.[22]
The USA made their return to international cricket in August 2006 when they participated in Division One of the ICC Americas Championship in Canada.[23] They finished second in the five team tournament.[24]
In May 2007 the USA were to visit Darwin, Australia to take part in Division Three of the ICC World Cricket League.[25] A top two finish in this tournament would have qualified them for Division Two of the same tournament later in the year.[25] Unfortunately, the United States of America Cricket Association was suspended from the ICC and the team was pulled from this competition.[26] The suspension was due to an internal dispute over a constitution for the USACA. The dispute was resolved in early 2008, and the suspension was lifted on April 1 of that year.
The team's reinstatement permitted them to enter the World Cricket League in Division Five for 2008 in Jersey. The team made it through the Group Stage tied for first in their division with a 4-0-0 record (one match abandoned),[27] but lost both their semi-final match with Jersey and their third-place play-off with Nepal.[28] They will play in Division Five again in 2010.