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The Cricket Regulator, a new independent organisation
tasked with monitoring and enforcing adherence to the rules of the game as well
as offering pertinent information and education, has been launched by the ECB.
One of the main recommendations from the critical
report released in June by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket
(ICEC) detailing systemic inequities across race, gender, and class in cricket
in England and Wales was to establish the Cricket Regulator.
The ECB’s dual responsibilities as the game’s promoter
and regulator were criticised in the 317-page paper “Holding Up a Mirror
to Cricket,” which came to the conclusion that any potential conflicts of
interest were “irreconcilable.” According to the research, this was
especially clear in how the racism scandal that rocked English cricket after
Azeem Rafiq’s Yorkshire days came to light was handled.
A new organisation “should be responsible for
investigating alleged regulatory breaches and for making decisions about
whether to bring charges,” according to the ICEC, not the ECB. The ECB
declared in September that it would implement this suggestion.
Importantly, the Cricket Regulator will be kept apart
from the rest of the ECB and will be supervised by an independent Cricket
Regulatory Board. The regulator was unveiled on Monday. The Cricket Regulator
will now have authority over areas that were previously under the governing
body’s purview, such as integrity (anti-corruption, anti-misconduct, and
anti-doping), safeguarding, and anti-discrimination.
As soon as a matter is reported, the Cricket Regulator
will look into it and determine whether there is enough evidence to send it to
the Cricket Discipline Commission (which will become the Cricket Discipline
Panel in 2024). The autonomous Cricket Regulatory Board, whose work also starts
on Monday, will oversee the Cricket Regulator’s spending and hold it
responsible for its actions. The first members of the Board are now the members
of the ECB Regulatory Committee; an open recruiting campaign will fill the
remaining positions.
“The Cricket Regulator will cover a wide range of
matters on which the game has set clear standards, including
anti-discrimination,” Lewis said in a statement. “The team and I are
clear about the importance of meeting high standards in ensuring people across
the game know what is expected of them, and having the best procedures in
place, to protect and promote the good of the game, and everyone
involved.”