We want cricket to be our most inclusive team sport: ECB

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will implement a number of initiatives in an effort to make cricket more inclusive after a report
revealed widespread discrimination throughout the game, including an independent regulator and investment in talent pathways for kids from low-income backgrounds.
The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), which uncovered evidence of pervasive racism, sexism, classism, and elitism, issued a report with 44 recommendations, to which the ECB responded. The ECB declared it had adopted "most" of the suggestions from the ICEC study following a three-month consultation period.
“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.
“We are on a journey to try to change history in terms of what cricket looks like and will look like.”
The report advocated for the immediate establishment of a fresh, ECB-unrelated regulatory agency. The Independent Cricket Regulatory Board will receive reports from this regulator, which will be in place before the 2024 season begins, according to the ECB.
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 stressed that even though it will appoint this new body, it will operate independently from the cricket board's core operations and operate at arm's length, unlike suggestions for a totally autonomous regulator in football. The ICEC was established in 2021 following a racism scandal centred on the treatment of Pakistan-born bowler Azeem Rafiq during two stints at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club.