Rajasthan-born Vikram Solanki became the first cricketer of Asian heritage to take charge of a county team when he was named the new Surrey head coach. Solanki, an elegant batsman who made the last of his 54 white-ball appearances for England in 2007, has been part of Surrey's backroom staff since 2016 and takes the top job following the departure from the Oval of Australian Michael Di Venuto.
The move was welcomed by the National Asian Cricket Council (NACC), who promote the interests of Britain's vast South Asian network and have formed close ties with the ECB. But they have also called for the game at age-group levels to examine its approach to recruiting coaches from outside the white mainstream. 'We're delighted for Vikram, who fully deserves the role,' NACC chairman Gulfraz Riaz said. 'It's pleasing for everyone in the South Asian cricket community that we can get significant people into important positions in the game, and we hope it inspires South Asian coaches in their coaching journeys. We've made great strides in recent years with the help of the ECB.
'But we'd still like to see more British Asian ex-pros given an opportunity to get into coaching at county age-group levels, as that is where they can add value and make a real difference, as well as develop their coaching skills.' The NACC, of which Solanki is an ambassador, acknowledge the growing number of Asian faces in other coaching positions.
Min Patel heads up Kent's talent pathway, Kadeer Ali is in charge of Worcestershire's 2nd XI, Jigar Naik works at the Leicestershire academy, and former England seamer Ajmal Shahzad runs MCC's Young Cricketers programme.
Last October, the highly regarded Mo Bobat was appointed in the influential role of ECB performance director, which involves working closely with England coach Chris Silverwood and national selector Ed Smith. Solanki himself is understood to be reluctant for his ethnicity to overshadow his ascent to one of the most prestigious posts in English cricket.
But his appointment comes amid growing calls for more Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) cricketers to take up influential roles within the game. And the ECB have admitted they have to 'work harder' following the absence last year of a single BAME candidate from the final round of interviews for the England women's head coaching position - in contravention of the sport's own version of the Rooney Rule. The job went to Australia's Lisa Keightley.
A board spokesperson said: 'We have followed the guidance for all recent men's coach appointments, but we struggled for applicants in the England women's coach role, despite an active search and outreach programme. 'We had one BAME applicant but we did not take them through to the final interview stage. We do acknowledge this conflicts with our commitment and we must work harder to seek candidates from diverse backgrounds in our processes.'
