ICC provisionally suspends USA's Aaron Jones ahead of T20 World Cup

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced provisionally suspending the United States of America (USA) batter Aaron Jones over the breach of its and Cricket West Indies' (CWI) anti-corruption codes.

According to the apex body, the charges against the 31-year-old batter were related predominantly to the Bim10 tournament in 2023-24, which falls under the jurisdiction of the CWI Anti-Corruption Code, while two charges are related to international matches, which fall under ICC's jurisdiction.

Jones has been charged with the following offences:

• Breach of Article 2.1.1 of the CWI Code – Fixing, contriving to fix or otherwise influencing improperly, or being a party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive in any way or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or other aspect of matches in the Bim10 tournament in 2023/24 (or attempting to do so).

• Breach of Article 2.4.2 of the CWI Code – Failing to disclose to Cricket West Indies details of any approaches or invitations to engage in conduct that would amount to a breach of the CWI Code.

• Breach of Article 2.4.4 of the CWI Code – Failing or refusing to cooperate with a reasonable investigation carried out by the Designated Anti-Corruption Official (or his/her designee) in relation to possible offences under the CWI Code.

• Breach of Article 2.4.4 of the ICC Code – Failing to disclose to the ICC ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the ICC Code.

• Breach of Article 2.4.7 of the ICC Code – Obstructing the ACU’s investigation into possible Corrupt Conduct by concealing and/or tampering with information that may have been relevant to the investigation, or which may have constituted evidence or led to the discovery of evidence of Corrupt Conduct.

The ICC, in its statement, further revealed that the charges levelled against Jones are part of a 'wider investigation', hinting at a possibility of more charges against other individuals in due course. It further shared that Jones has been suspended with immediate effect and has 14 days to respond.

"These charges are part of a wider investigation which is likely to result in further charges being issued against other participants in due course," ICC stated.

"Jones has been provisionally suspended from all cricket with immediate effect and has 14 days from 28 January 2026 to respond to the charges."

Jones's suspension came just days ahead of the commencement of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8, and may force the USA to look for alternatives, as they have yet to announce their squad for the mega event.

For the unversed, Jones has thus far represented the USA in 52 ODIs and 48 T20Is, having accumulated 2434 across formats with the help of one century and 13 fifties.