Parliament calls on ECB to observe Yorkshire in wake of Colin Graves' re-election

The ECB has been warned by MPs to maintain a detailed eye on Yorkshire within the wake of Colin Graves’ re-election as chair, to make sure that the membership doesn’t renege on its commitments to variety and inclusion.

Yorkshire have been final 12 months fined a complete of £400,000 and handed factors deductions by the Cricket Self-discipline Fee (CDC), following their dealing with of Azeem Rafiq’s revelations of institutional racism on the membership.

Graves, who beforehand served as Yorkshire’s chair between 2012-15, was final 12 months sanctioned by the ECB for dismissing allegations of racist incidents throughout his tenure as “banter”, however issued a “private and unreserved” apology to all victims of racism following his return to the submit in February.

Graves appeared earlier than the DCMS choose committee shortly after his reappointment in February, the place he was challenged by MPs on his plans for Yorkshire’s refinancing – together with a right away money injection of £1 million, adopted by additional funding value £4 million. His household belief, which is managed by unbiased trustees, continues to be owed almost £15 million by the membership.

In its Fairness in Cricket report, launched on Friday, the committee stated: “We anticipate the ECB to carefully monitor Yorkshire CCC to their work and be sure that there isn’t a return to the ‘enterprise as normal’ that allowed a tradition of discrimination to take root and thrive on the membership. We urge the ECB and the cricket regulator to pay specific consideration to the long run efficiency of Yorkshire CCC in relation to inequality.”

In June 2023, a report by the Unbiased Fee for Fairness in Cricket (ICEC) castigated English cricket on the grounds of sophistication, race and gender, with Richard Thompson, the ECB chair, describing its findings as a “wake-up name” and a chance to “reset cricket”. It has been really useful by the committee that the ECB publishes a progress report on the anniversary of the publication, addressing every of its 44 suggestions.

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, the committee’s chair, stated: “The ECB has made welcome progress on fixing the issues dealing with cricket recognized so powerfully within the ICEC report. To realize its ambition for cricket to be probably the most inclusive sport within the nation and really welcoming to all it have to be open on how it’s backing up its phrases with actions.

“The beginning of the county cricket season is all the time a time for optimism, and we hope that members at Headingley can stay up for a profitable future, with a board dedicated to a member-led membership and a continued concentrate on tackling discrimination. The ECB ought to hold a detailed eye on progress to make sure Yorkshire continues happening the street to reform.”

The report was launched on the identical day that the UK authorities introduced a £35 million funding into grassroots and state faculty cricket, with the intention of enabling 900,000 younger folks to play cricket over the subsequent 5 years.

Responding to the report, Thompson added: “We welcome the continued assist and scrutiny from DCMS following the publication of the ICEC Report.

“We’re eager to forge forward and proceed with the modifications we’ve already been implementing in our ambition to turn out to be probably the most inclusive sport in England and Wales.”

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Parliament calls on ECB to observe Yorkshire in wake of Colin Graves’ re-election

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