The Cricket Regulator, a new independent organization tasked with monitoring and enforcing adherence to the rules of the game as well as offering pertinent information and education, has been unveiled 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 criticized 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 organization “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.
Former chief of police Dave Lewis will lead the Cricket Regulator as acting director in the meantime, establishing the organization until a permanent replacement is named in 2024. After serving in a variety of law enforcement capacities for more than 30 years, including as the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for ethics, Lewis retired in October 2020 from his position as deputy chief constable for Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall. Nick Coward, the chair of the Cricket Regulatory Board, will receive his reports.
“The Cricket Regulator will cover a wide range of matters on which the game has set clear standards, including anti-discrimination,” Lewis stated 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.”
The establishment of the new organization and its independence were applauded by ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould, who stated: “It is critical that the game has the best procedures in place in order to enforce regulations. The Cricket Regulator, which is supervised by an independent Cricket Regulatory Board, will implement the recommendations made in the ICEC study to further independent the game’s regulatory framework.
“The Cricket Regulator is ring-fenced from the ECB, and that separation will ensure that their work is distinct from our work as the game’s promoter.”
