British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his misery upon studying a report that make clear the widespread problems with racism, sexism, classism, and elitism inside English cricket. Determined to tackle these delicate issues, the PM determined to have interaction in talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to put an end to these troubling practices.
The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) carried out a radical two-year investigation, which resulted in 44 suggestions and a requirement for an apology from the ECB. In response to these findings, PM Sunak met with ECB chair Richard Thompson on Saturday, July 1, to focus on the matter and search a decision. During this assembly, the PM expressed his assist for the ECB’s dedication to addressing the problems highlighted within the ICEC report and emphasised the significance of their apology.
“For people who love cricket, it was really hard to read. You were just sad about the sport that you love being described like that. For it to be brought to light that there were all these issues was really sad. I’ve spent a little bit of the morning talking to the team at the ECB about it. They have approached it in exactly the right way,” PM Sunak was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
The launch of the Independent Cricket Ethics Committee (ICEC) report adopted a distressing incident of racism involving Azeem Rafiq, a bowler hailing from Pakistan, throughout his time on the English county Yorkshire. In 2020, Rafiq bravely spoke out concerning the mistreatment he endured from the administration, shedding gentle on the distressing problems with racism and bullying throughout the group. As a consequence, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) took instant motion by commissioning the report.
“It was the ECB who commissioned this report. They did it off their own back because they wanted to be proactive in addressing the concerns that people have raised and they deserve credit for that. They are going about it in exactly the right way. They’ve offered an unreserved apology and from the conversations I’ve had with Richard and the team, they are absolutely committed to fix the problems and for this be a reset moment for cricket,” he added.
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