We want cricket to be our most inclusive team sport: ECB
The ECB published its response after the a commission outlined 44 recommendations in the report, which found evidence of deeprooted racism, sexism, classism and elitism
By Sarwar AlamSep 28, 2023
AN INDEPENDENT regulator and investment in talent pathways for children from disadvantaged backgrounds are among the initiatives that will be implemented by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in its efforts to make cricket more inclusive, after a report found widespread discrimination across the sport.
The ECB published its response on Monday (25) after the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) outlined 44 recommendations in the report, which found evidence of deeprooted racism, sexism, classism and elitism. After a three-month consultation, the ECB said it accepted “most” of the ICEC report’s recommendations.
“The ICEC report was a massive moment for the sport and a responsibility we take extremely seriously, to bring about the changes we all want to see,” said the ECB chief executive, Richard Gould.
Are some of the recommendations accepted by the ECB
“We are on a journey to try to change history in terms of what cricket looks like and will look like.”
The report recommended the creation of a new regulatory body, independent of the ECB, within the next year. This regulator will be in place before the start of the 2024 season and will report to the Independent Cricket Regulatory Board, the ECB said.
It will undertake investigations and enforce regulations on inclusion and discrimination, and has the power to refer any discrimination within the professional game to a disciplinary panel.
The ECB insisted that although it will appoint this new body – unlike the proposals for a fully independent regulator in football – it will operate at arm’s length and be separate from the main business of the cricket board.
The ICEC was established in 2021 following a racism scandal centred around the treatment of Pakistan-born bowler Azeem Rafiq during two stints at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
One of the recommendations the report made when it was published in June was for the the board to issue an unreserved public apology for its failings, which ECB chairman Richard Thompson did at a press conference on Monday. “I want to double down on our apology to those we have let down and discriminated against,” he said.
“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,” Thompson added.
“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.”
As well as setting up an independent regulator, the ECB plans to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion standards (EDI) for county teams, that will include more ambitious targets for gender and ethnic diversity.
The ECB will assess counties’ performance against minimum EDI standards and will reallocate matches from venues if there is evidence of non-compliance.
The governing body added it will also publish a state of equity report every three years. and adopt a more “transparent and accountable” approach to EDI.
“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,” said Thompson. “It builds on a huge amount of work already undeway right across the network.
“Cricket hasn’t got it right in the past, but this is an opportunity to move forward together. I’d urge everyone to now come together, to put their energy and effort into delivering these actions, and to play their part in ensuring cricket becomes England and Wales’ most inclusive team sport.”
The ICEC recommended an overhaul of school cricket and talent pathways to “make it more meritocratic, inclusive, accountable, transparent and consistent”.
An investment of £2 million will go towards redesigning the talent pathways to attract more players from state schools and black and Asian backgrounds.
Proposals to make the sport more inclusive include an overhaul of school cricket
Among the five charities to benefit from this funding will be the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA), which will receive £260,000 over the next two-and-a-half years. SACA currently operates across the south-east, south-west, Midlands and the north of England, as well as recently expanding to Scotland.
Clare Connor, the ECB’s deputy chief executive, said this investment was needed because, for too long, certain groups of people had been “left out” of the game.
“SACA have said to us that ideally, they don’t want to exist in three years’ time. Some of these interventions are needed right now to really turbo-charge activity, focus and integration into the system where there hasn’t been inclusion or where there hasn’t been support. People have felt left out,” said Connor.
“What we are looking to do through an overall diverse communities action plan is learn from the lessons of the past. Take what we’ve learned from the South Asian Action Plan, the Women’s and Girls Action Plan, and build a plan that everybody can see themselves in, but which also has specific content for black communities, or for core cities or for whatever part of the game you’re trying to reach.
“We are taking a holistic integrated view on our diverse communities action plan, while also committing increased funding and investment into charity partners who can really make positive interventions.”
England white-ball captain Jos Buttler
The ECB added that specific EDI training at county and agegroup level would be required in order to ensure that those from lower socio-economic backgrounds were able to break into the professional game.
While the ECB believes it is on course to fulfil 94 per cent of the ICEC’s recommendations, it conceded that “further analysis” will be required for the remaining proposals. They included most specifically the recommendations surrounding the gender pay gap, in which the ICEC called for equal pay at domestic level by 2029 and international level (including ECB contracts) by 2030.
The ECB said it would invest at least £25m every year to further grow the women’s and girls’ game at every level. The investment will be independent of any revenue generated by the women’s game.
Last month, the ECB announced that match fees for England’s women’s and men’s team would be equal with immediate effect, implementing a change recommended in the ICEC report.
However, the ECB stopped short of committing to all of the commission’s recommendations on equal pay, which include the same average annual salaries at international level by 2030, equal salaries for The Hundred tournament by 2025 and equal average pay and prize money in other domestic cricket by 2029.
Currently, the top England women’s contract is about £150,000, whereas the top men’s central contract is closer to £1 million.
Richard Gould
“There has been under-investment in women’s team sports for decades,” Gould said.
“That’s one of the things the ICEC report has highlighted and we’re determined to act on it. We agree with the long-term goal of equality of pay and working conditions, but further analysis is needed before the ECB can commit to a fundamental overhaul of the professional female players’ pay structure and the ICEC’s proposal on equalising salaries in the Hundred,” he added.
“Given the financial constraints, the ECB has a responsibility to balance these recommendations against the multitude of long-term investments required to grow and nurture the game at all levels.”
Despite the financial implications of implementing the ICEC’s recommendations, Gould looked at it as an “investment” into the future of the game.
“There is a lot of cost attached to some of these elements. But a lot of it is also... trying to build a better, more inclusive culture. We don’t see it as a cost, we see it as an investment. These are exactly the sort of things we should be spending our money on to ensure we have the most inclusive team sport in the country. It’s exactly the right sort of thing we should be doing with our money,” he said.
“It will be tens of millions of pounds for the next couple of years and well beyond that.
“It brings in new players, volunteers, a workforce, and makes us a much richer sport. We take that responsibility very seriously.”
King Charles, wearing a black armband to pay respects to the victims of Air India plane crash, attends the Trooping the Colour parade on his official birthday in London. (Photo: Reuters)
A MINUTE's silence for the victims of the Air India plane crash was observed on Saturday during the Trooping the Colour parade in London marking King Charles's official birthday. Some members of the royal family wore black armbands during the ceremony.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said King Charles, 76, had requested changes to the parade “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy”.
The crash on Thursday involved a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was taking off from Ahmedabad in eastern India and heading to London's Gatwick Airport. A total of 279 people, including passengers, crew and individuals on the ground, were killed.
Among the victims were 52 Britons. The only survivor identified so far is British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh from Leicester.
Following the disaster, King Charles said in a written statement that he was “desperately shocked by the terrible events” and extended his “deepest possible sympathy”.
Royal family attends parade
Trooping the Colour is a military tradition that dates back over 200 years and marks the monarch's official birthday. The event begins at Buckingham Palace, proceeds down The Mall, and concludes at Horse Guards Parade, where the King receives a royal salute and inspects the troops.
Hundreds of people gathered along The Mall and outside the palace to view the event. A small group of anti-monarchy protesters were present, carrying yellow signs that read “not my king” and “down with the crown”.
King Charles, who continues weekly treatment for an unspecified cancer, was accompanied by Queen Camilla. Also present were Prince William, 42, his wife Catherine, and their children George, 11, Charlotte, 10, and Louis, seven.
No appearance by Harry and Meghan
Catherine, 43, the Princess of Wales, had earlier announced in March 2024 that she had been diagnosed with an unspecified cancer. In January 2025, she said she was “in remission” and has since gradually resumed public engagements.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan did not attend the event. The couple stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and now live in the United States. Reports in the UK media suggest that relations between Harry and other members of the royal family remain strained, with minimal communication between him and his brother William.
Although Trooping the Colour is held in June, King Charles was born in November. The tradition of a second birthday celebration was introduced in 1748 by King George II to ensure the monarch’s birthday could be marked in better weather.
Saturday's parade coincided with a major military parade in Washington led by US President Donald Trump on his 79th birthday.
By clicking the 'Subscribe’, you agree to receive our newsletter, marketing communications and industry
partners/sponsors sharing promotional product information via email and print communication from Garavi Gujarat
Publications Ltd and subsidiaries. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the
unsubscribe link in our emails. We will use your email address to personalize our communications and send you
relevant offers. Your data will be stored up to 30 days after unsubscribing.
Contact us at data@amg.biz to see how we manage and store your data.
They were all remanded in custody, except Bashir, who absconded before the trial began. (Photo: Greater Manchester Police)
SEVEN men were convicted on Friday in the UK’s latest grooming trial, after a jury heard that two girl victims were forced to have sex “with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses”.
Jurors at the court in Manchester, northwest England, deliberated for three weeks before finding the seven men, all of whom are of South Asian descent, guilty of rape.
Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, Kasir Bashir, 50, Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, Roheez Khan, 39, and Nisar Hussain, 41, will be sentenced at a later date, but judge Jonathan Seely warned that they face “lengthy prison sentences”.
They were all remanded in custody, except Bashir, who absconded before the trial began.
Operation Lytton and police investigation
The men were prosecuted as part of Operation Lytton, an investigation launched by Greater Manchester Police in 2015 into historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale, a town near Manchester.
The issue has long been seized upon by far-right British figures, including notorious influencer Tommy Robinson, but has also been adopted as a rallying cry by the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party.
The issue of grooming gangs received international attention earlier in the year when US tech billionaire Elon Musk launched incendiary attacks on his X platform against the UK government after it resisted calls for a national inquiry.
Over the course of several decades, men of mostly South Asian origin in various English towns are suspected of having sexually abused thousands of mostly white girls from working class families, often from troubled homes.
Court testimony on abuse
Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella said during the trial that the men had abused the two girls for several years from the age of 13 — between 2001 and 2006.
“They were often forced to have oral sex and vaginal sex with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses,” he said.
“On other occasions they would be required to have sex in cars, car parks, alleyways or disused warehouses. Wherever and whenever these men wanted it.
“They were children passed around for sex; abused, degraded and then discarded,” he added.
One of the alleged victims was also “being exploited and abused by many other Asian men” not in the dock, said Scamardella.
Police response and apology
Following the verdicts, detective superintendent Alan Clitherow, of Greater Manchester Police, apologised for not acting earlier.
“There was information at the time that police and other agencies could, and should, have done something with, and we didn’t,” he said.
“The way those victims were dealt with at the time is indefensible and inexcusable. We have made comprehensive apologies for that.”
(With inputs from agencies)
Keep ReadingShow less
Karun Thakar is a leading textile collector with a lifelong focus on Asian and African textiles
THE KARUN THAKAR FUND, established by textile collector Karun Thakar in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), supports the study of Asian and African textiles and dress through scholarships and project grants.
The fund offers one-time Scholarship Awards of up to £10,000 for university students worldwide focusing on any aspect of Asian or African textiles and dress. Undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students from any accredited university are eligible, provided their research or practice is clearly linked to these areas. The next round of Scholarship Award applications opens on 1 May 2025 and closes at 23:59 on July 15, 2025.
Karun Thakar is a leading textile collector with a lifelong focus on Asian and African textiles. He began collecting in the early 1980s and has built an extensive private collection ranging from 14th-century Indian trade cloths to West African loom weavings.
“From July 2021, The Karun Thakar Fund will offer scholarships to student practitioners and researchers studying any aspect of Asian or African textile/dress design or history,” the fund states. “Awardees’ work will be shared here, creating a platform for international conversation and knowledge exchange.”
Project Grants of up to £5,000—and up to £10,000 in exceptional cases—are also available for projects focused on Asian or African textiles or dress. The last round of Project Grants was allocated in 2024. These grants are open to emerging and early-career researchers, curators, practitioners, community leaders, and small not-for-profit groups operating in the UK or internationally.
“I am really excited to see what light we can shine through this fund,” said Karun. “The committee is looking at innovative ways to reach potential applicants who have new and radical approaches.”
The Selection Committee includes Karun Thakar, Gus Casely-Hayford, Christine Checinska, Ben Evans, Avalon Fotheringham, Lulu Lytle, Divia Patel, and Siddhartha Shah.
Ambulance are seen parked near the post-mortem room at a hospital before transferring victims' dead bodies to a mortuary in Ahmedabad on June 13, 2025, a day after Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area.
GRIEVING families waited on Saturday for updates after one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent decades, as the death toll from the Air India crash rose to 279.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before crashing around midday on Thursday. The aircraft burst into flames as it hit residential buildings in the northern Indian city of Ahmedabad.
A police source confirmed to AFP on Saturday that 279 bodies had been recovered from the site. The crash is among the worst aviation disasters of the 21st century.
There was one survivor among the 242 passengers and crew members on board. The tail section of the aircraft remained lodged in a hostel for medical staff.
At least 38 people on the ground were also killed.
"I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time," said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had come to visit before taking the flight.
"And now, there is nothing," he said, breaking down. "Whatever the gods wanted has happened."
Search for black box continues
Relatives of the victims have been providing DNA samples in Ahmedabad. Some family members have flown in to assist in the identification process.
The final casualty figure will only be confirmed once DNA testing is completed.
According to Air India, the aircraft was carrying 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian citizen, along with 12 crew members.
The victims included a senior politician and a teenage tea seller.
The only survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, spoke to national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed. A British citizen, Ramesh said, "Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive."
Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Friday that a flight data recorder had been found. "It would significantly aid" the investigation, he said.
Forensic teams are still searching for the second black box as investigators try to determine why the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff, reaching a height of only 100 metres (330 feet).
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said it was in contact with Air India and "ready to support them" regarding the incident. A source close to the investigation said this was the first crash involving a 787 Dreamliner.
(With inputs from agencies)
Keep ReadingShow less
A view shows the wreckage of the tail section of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from airport in Ahmedabad. (Photo: Reuters)
THE INVESTIGATION into the Air India crash that killed more than 240 people is focusing on the aircraft's engine, flaps, and landing gear.
The Indian aviation regulator has ordered safety checks on the airline’s entire Boeing 787 fleet, reported Reuters.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board and headed to Gatwick Airport near London, began losing altitude shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad. CCTV footage showed the aircraft crashing into a residential area and erupting into a fireball after hitting buildings.
Only one passenger survived. Local media reported that up to 24 people on the ground were also killed when the plane hit a medical college hostel during lunchtime.
This is the deadliest aviation accident globally in the past ten years.
Probe focuses on aircraft components
A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters the investigation is examining several factors, including engine thrust, flap deployment, and why the landing gear was still down during take-off. The plane lost height and crashed moments after leaving the runway.
The probe is also looking into possible maintenance issues and whether Air India was at fault, the source said.
A bird-hit is not among the primary areas being investigated, the source added. Anti-terrorism teams are also involved in the probe.
The Indian government is considering whether to ground the Boeing 787 fleet during the investigation. Air India, Boeing, and the aviation ministry have not commented on this yet.
Air India operates more than 30 Dreamliners, including Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft. An Air India source said the airline has not received any communication about grounding the fleet so far.
Safety checks ordered on Dreamliner fleet
India’s aviation regulator has directed Air India to carry out additional maintenance checks on its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft with GEnx engines. This includes a "one-time check" of take-off parameters before each flight starting from midnight on 15 June.
The regulator also asked the airline to add flight control system checks during transit inspections and to complete power assurance checks within two weeks. These are aimed at confirming the engine can generate the necessary power.
Flight data recorder recovered
The aviation ministry said investigators have recovered the digital flight data recorder from the rooftop of the building where the plane crashed. The cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, has not yet been found.
The Tata Group, which took over Air India from the government in 2022 and later merged it with Vistara, is part of the investigation. Tata Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in an internal memo that investigators from India, the UK, and the US have arrived. “We don’t know right now,” he said. “We want to understand what happened and will be fully transparent.”
GE Aerospace, which manufactures the aircraft engines, said it supports the regulator’s actions. “Safety is our top priority,” a GE Aerospace spokesperson said. “We are committed to providing all technical support necessary to understand the cause of this accident.”
Rescue operations completed
On Friday, rescue workers completed search operations at the crash site. Teams were searching buildings for missing people, bodies, and aircraft parts that could assist the investigation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site in Gujarat, where he was briefed on rescue operations and met some of the injured in hospital. “The scene of devastation is saddening,” he said on X.
This is the first crash involving a Boeing Dreamliner since the aircraft began commercial service in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft involved in Thursday’s crash first flew in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, according to Flightradar24.
The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.