ICEC: Recommendations ‘too important to be put on back burner for lack of money’

Cindy Butts has written an open letter to ECB chair Richard Thompson.

Cindy Butts, front right, chaired the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (Josimar Senior/PA) (PA Media)

The chair of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket has told the England and Wales Cricket Board that financial constraints should not be an excuse for holding back on implementing the recommendations of the report.

Cindy Butts, who headed the inquiry that concluded there is structural and institutional racism, sexism and class-based discrimination in the game, was responding to a letter from ECB chair Richard Thompson.

In that letter, issued last month following publication of the report, Thompson warned that some of the recommendations would require “time and investment over the coming months and years”, and others fundamental changes to the game and its funding model.

Butts praised Thompson for his “candid public response” to the report and for apologising to those in the game who have suffered discrimination and exclusion.

But she added: “I have commended the ECB’s bravery in establishing the Commission, and now I urge you to continue to be brave in engaging with those who have perhaps been the game’s fiercest critics; it is through those conversations, difficult though they may be, that genuine and lasting change can be achieved.

“When developing our recommendations, we were well aware that they would require significant resources, at a time when cricket in England and Wales is facing financial challenges – some common to other sectors and some unique to cricket.

“But we believe that the issues we highlighted are too important to be put on the back burner for lack of money.

“As you and colleagues have recognised, discrimination and lack of inclusion in cricket represent an existential crisis for the game. Cricket does have significant funds through its broadcast deals – it’s a question of how the game chooses to spend them.

“If ever there was a time to use them to ensure cricket’s survival, it must be now.”