Cricket inequalities in England and Wales are untenable – our report shows how to rejuvenate the game
Retrieved on:
Friday, June 30, 2023
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Holding Up a Mirror to Cricket contains strong and disturbing evidence about the class prejudice, racism and misogyny that runs through all levels of the game in England and Wales.
Key Points:
- Holding Up a Mirror to Cricket contains strong and disturbing evidence about the class prejudice, racism and misogyny that runs through all levels of the game in England and Wales.
- The ICEC was established in 2021 by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the sport’s official governing body, to assess evidence of inequalities and discrimination, and to recommend actions to address these issues.
- I was one of the four commissioners working with the ICEC’s chair Cindy Butts (previously the deputy of chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority).
What our survey found
- We also conducted a survey that was distributed within and by cricket clubs across England and Wales, and also by the county teams to both players and coaches.
- We had more than 4,000 responses, of which a shocking 50% of people who play and organise cricket in England and Wales said they had experienced discrimination of some kind.
- The reason the report is getting so much welcome engagement is because – sadly – many people relate to its findings.
Recommendations for change
- Our report contains 44 recommendations designed to transform the game into a truly inclusive sport.
- The findings and recommendations of the report relating to black cricket build on my Windrush Cricket project at UCL, which looks at the role of cricket in the black experience of migration and settlement in Britain after the second world war.
- We recommend a new, properly financed Black Cricket Action Plan (BCAP) to invest in grassroots black cricket and talent development.
Elitism in cricket
- I believe these matches are untenable, that they portray the worst possible image of elitism in cricket, and should have no place in modern Britain.
- We have proposed an action plan to rejuvenate state school cricket – which has been left to decay – and level the playing field between the state and private sectors.
- This creates a sizeable structural advantage for privately educated children, at an age where most state primary school children have never played a formal game of cricket.
- Imagine how good the England men’s and women’s cricket teams might be if we truly broadened the talent pool.