England captain Ben Stokes mentioned Tuesday he’s “deeply sorry” to be taught of the dimensions of discrimination within the sport after a damning report revealed “widespread” racism, sexism and classism within the recreation. His feedback adopted the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), arrange by the England and Wales Cricket Board, publishing its much-anticipated report, Holding Up a Mirror to Cricket.

The fee makes 44 suggestions, together with that the board makes an “unqualified public apology” for its failings. The ICEC was established in 2021 within the wake of a racism scandal centred across the remedy of Pakistan-born bowler Azeem Rafiq at English county cricket membership Yorkshire.

Of the greater than 4,000 people interviewed for the ICEC report, 50 p.c described experiencing discrimination within the earlier 5 years, with the figures considerably larger for individuals from ethnically various communities.

Women are handled as “subordinate” to males in any respect ranges of cricket, the report discovered, including that they obtain an “embarrassingly small amount” of pay in comparison with their male counterparts.

It recommends that match charges for the lads’s and girls’s groups be “equalised with immediate effect”. The ICEC report additionally states that not sufficient has been completed to deal with class obstacles within the recreation, with fee-paying personal faculties dominating the expertise pathway.

‘Unequivocal’

“Our findings are unequivocal,” mentioned ICEC chair Cindy Butts. “Racism, class-based discrimination, elitism and sexism are widespread and deep-rooted.

“The recreation should resist the truth that it is not banter or only a few unhealthy apples. Discrimination is each overt and baked into the constructions and processes inside cricket.”

England men’s Test captain Ben Stokes and women’s skipper Heather Knight gave evidence, along with racism whistleblower Rafiq. Stokes reacted to the publication of the report on the eve of the second Ashes Test against Australia, which starts at Lord’s on Wednesday.

“To the individuals concerned within the recreation who’ve been made to really feel unwelcome or unaccepted up to now, I’m deeply sorry to listen to of your experiences,” he said.

“Cricket is a recreation that should have a good time variety on all fronts as a result of with out variety this recreation wouldn’t be the place it’s at at the moment.”

He added: “Everyone has a unique story to inform. I’m Ben Stokes, born in New Zealand, a state-educated pupil who dropped out of college at 16 with one GCSE (qualification) in PE. I need assistance with the spelling and grammar on this speech and I’m at the moment sitting right here because the England males’s Test captain.”

‘Opportunity’

The report praised the ECB for being brave enough to open itself up to “uncomfortable unbiased scrutiny”.

ECB chairman Richard Thompson, who took up his post last year, said the organisation would “use this second to reset cricket”.

“On behalf of the ECB and wider management of the sport, I apologise unreservedly to anybody who has ever been excluded from cricket or made to really feel like they do not belong,” he said.

“Cricket must be a recreation for everybody, and we all know that this has not all the time been the case. Powerful conclusions inside the report additionally spotlight that for too lengthy girls and black individuals had been uncared for. We are really sorry for this.”

Rafiq welcomed the findings and acknowledged the “extraordinary work” that had gone into the inquiry. “There is little doubt now that the sport all of us love has suffered from institutionalised discrimination, together with racism,” he said.

“This report is a chance to totally replicate on what has occurred and for the game’s governing constructions to work out a approach ahead.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said the report “makes for tough studying”.

“The prime minister believes that sport have to be open to everybody,” he said. “There isn’t any place for racism, discrimination, bullying or harassment in sport nor certainly in wider society.”