The ECB sets out action to make cricket more inclusive following ICEC report

26 Sep 2023   |   By

The ECB sets out action to make cricket more inclusive following ICEC report
The ECB is today publishing details of further steps it will take to make cricket a
more inclusive sport in response to the recent report by the Independent
Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC).
Wide-ranging action aims to tackle discrimination and break down barriers for
women and girls, people from lower socio-economic groups, and ethnically diverse
communities.
It will accelerate and bolster work already underway across the game designed to
make cricket the most inclusive team sport in England and Wales – and aims to
address the ICEC’s conclusions that structural and institutional racism, sexism and
class-based discrimination continue to exist across cricket.
The response includes:
• Enhanced EDI education and setting new values and behaviours for the ECB to
help create a game-wide transformation in culture.
• Investing a minimum of £25m per year above forecasted women’s revenues to
further grow the women’s and girls’ game at every level during the current
broadcast cycle (which runs until 2028).
• Introducing further independence in our regulatory processes by establishing
a new Cricket Regulator, overseen by an independent Cricket Regulatory
Board - and ring-fenced from the rest of the ECB - which will be responsible
for enforcement of regulations and carrying out investigations.
• Increasing match fees for England Women to equalise them with England Men,
and tripling the number of girls’ club teams by 2026.
• Working with partners in the wider game to design an enhanced and
expanded Talent Pathway that aims to remove barriers and increase
opportunity. Our aim is that by 2025, finance will not be a barrier for Talent
Pathway participants.
• Developing Action Plans, as requested by the ICEC, to tackle barriers for
state school pupils and Black and other Ethnically Diverse communities.
• Investing an extra £2m into charity partners to boost their work in breaking
down barriers, particularly for state school, Black and British South Asian
children and young people – the African Caribbean Engagement (ACE)
Programme, Chance to Shine, Lord’s Taverners, MCC Foundation and South
Asian Cricket Academy (SACA).
• Developing a game-wide Volunteering Strategy and integrating key EDI
principles into training.
• Providing support and training across the cricket network to enhance
understanding of discrimination and the management of complaints across
the cricket network, as well as launching a charter setting out clear
expectations of both complainants and the investigating body to ensure a fair
and transparent outcome for all.
• Adding victimisation as an offence in the Anti-Discrimination Code.
• Including enhanced EDI standards in the next County Partnership
Agreements (CPAs) from 2025, and adding more ambitious County Board
targets for gender diversity and ethnic diversity based on local demographics.
Venues hosting major matches will be assessed against their performance
against EDI minimum standards.
Today’s response follows a three-month period of consultation following the report’s
publication. The ECB has held more than 50 consultation meetings with a wide
range of cricket organisations, equality experts, charities and individuals to help us
identify how best to implement the findings. We are taking forward most of the
ICEC’s recommendations. Many we will be implementing by the letter – or, indeed,
have already been implemented. Others we will implement in slightly different ways
or to a different timescale, and there are only a small number we will not take
forward.
The response also sets out how the ECB will report on progress, including annual
progress updates on our EDI Action Plan and a full State of Equity report every three
years. We will also establish an independent EDI Advisory Panel with, as a
minimum, expertise in the three areas of the ICEC’s report (gender, race, class) to
provide expertise, challenge us to drive for greater progress, and ensure that our
investments and initiatives are having the intended impact.
Richard Thompson, ECB Chair, said: “On the day the ICEC published its report, I
apologised without reservation on behalf of cricket’s wider leadership to anyone who
has suffered discrimination or felt excluded from our sport. As well as reiterating that
apology here, I reaffirm our absolute commitment that cricket will strive to become
the most inclusive sport in England and Wales.
“There is no doubt that the ICEC highlighted to great effect the impact of
discrimination on individuals and the extent of the systemic challenges to be
addressed. Its in-depth analysis also presented an opportunity to put in place a
comprehensive plan of action that will deliver meaningful change and rebuild trust
among the communities we serve.
“This response represents a set of actions that will accelerate and intensify our work
to make cricket a game for everyone, actions that cricket can deliver and fund within
an achievable timeframe. It builds on a huge amount of work which is already under
way right across the network.
“Cricket hasn’t got it right in the past, but this is an opportunity to move forwards
together. I’d urge everyone to now come together, to put their energy and effort into
delivering these actions, and to playing their part in ensuring cricket becomes
England and Wales’s most inclusive team sport

Making Cricket A More Inclusive Sport-the-ECBs-icec-response.pdf