EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
HELPING TO MAKE CRICKET THE MOST INCLUSIVE SPORT IN ENGLAND AND WALES: OUR EDI STORY
When it comes to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Cheshire Cricket Board aspires to be a leading organisation within the cricketing community. This is why we are proud to share our current EDI story, which brings together our County EDI Plan and other strategies and objectives into one simple, compelling narrative.
OUR EDI PLAN
The Cheshire Cricket Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan (updated Oct 2024) underlines the Board’s commitment to delivering EDI throughout recreational cricket in the county, while seeking to tackle discrimination in all its forms.
EDI runs through the heart of everything we do and as such this plan should not be read in isolation. In addition to the Board’s overarching Countywide Plan, we have developed a number of individual strategies including an Communities Action Plan and a Disability & Inclusion Strategy, all of which seek to address the opportunities and challenges faced by under-represented groups in grass roots cricket.
This plan has been developed with other key stakeholders (including Cheshire County Cricket Club and Cheshire Youth Cricket) and aims to make cricket more accessible and to help connect communities through their shared passion for the sport. It aligns closely with ECB’s own EDI Action Plan but is ultimately however, a plan for ‘Cheshire Cricket’ that directly supports the involvement of all members of our wider Cheshire Cricket Family.
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION REGULATIONS & REPORTING DISCRIMINATION
The England and Wales Cricket Board (the ECB) is responsible for the governance of cricket in England and Wales. The ECB Anti-Discrimination Regulations are part of the ECB’s continuing efforts to maintain the integrity, diversity and inclusivity of cricket. All organisations under the banner of ECB – including affiliated clubs and leagues – are asked to formally adopt the Anti-Discrimination Regulations, a copy of which can be found here.
Cheshire Cricket Board stands against discrimination in all its forms and are committed to ensuring that cricket is a game for everyone. If you have experienced or witnessed discrimination you can report it to Cheshire's County Safeguarding Officer Julie Rafferty or directly to the Cricket Regulator
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION FOR EQUITY IN CRICKET (ICEC) – REPORT AND ECB RESPONSE
In September 2023, the ECB published details of further steps it will take to make cricket a more inclusive sport in response to the report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC).
Wide-ranging action aims to tackle discrimination and break down barriers for women and girls, people from lower socio-economic groups, and ethnically diverse communities. It will accelerate work already underway across the game designed to make cricket the most inclusive team sport in England and Wales – and aims to address the ICEC’s conclusions that structural and institutional racism, sexism and class-based discrimination continue to exist across cricket.
ICEC Report - 27 June 2023
ECB statement in response to ICEC report - June 2023
Watch ECB Chair Richard Thompson's video message response to the ICEC Report - June 2023
CRICKET’S CORE VALUES
In June 2023, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report was published, detailing the steps cricket needed to take to become a more inclusive sport.
A key recommendation from the report was to create a set of game-wide values to guide how everyone connected with cricket should work, play and make decisions on and off the field. In response, ECB launched The Big Cricket Conversation, a nationwide consultation process to discover what people wanted the future of the sport’s culture to look like. The consultation included a public survey which generated more than 4,500 plus responses, with insight gathered from several other sources including:
o Interviews with experts from different industries
o Cricket club site visits
o Focus groups with members of the public from underrepresented groups
o ECB-led workshops with County Boards, charity partners, players and volunteers
o ECB senior leadership interviews
From the consultation, some common themes emerged. These were shaped and refined and presented to the ECB Board in July 2024, when cricket’s Core Values were formally endorsed.
Cheshire Cricket’s Core Values
As custodians of the recreational game in Cheshire, we acknowledge the vital role we play in ensuring all members of the cricketing community both understand and embrace these Core Values. At its meeting in November 2024, Cheshire Cricket Board’s Directors officially endorsed the game-wide values as our own, adding an important fifth pillar: To Lead by Example. This underlines our commitment to making cricket the “most inclusive team sport” and CCB staff members now proudly display the above values on their email signature strips.
EDI NEWS FEATURES & RESOURCES
Players, members, volunteers and officials of Cheshire clubs are encouraged to complete the ECB ‘Raising the Game’ e-learning module to discover more about equity, diversity and inclusion within the context of recreational cricket. This interactive 30-minute module helps to raise awareness of these important topics and how we can work together to ensure everyone can say ‘cricket is a game for me’.
Anti-Discrimination Regulations
ECB Inclusive Language Guide
Kit Recycling Programme
Black History Month
Rainbow Laces
ECB Raise The Game