ECB commits to establish new anti-discrimination unit

England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday said it is committed to establish a new anti-discrimination unit to ensure that it has the right resources and capabilities to tackle discrimination in all its forms. The ECB said work to define the resources and capabilities required by the unit has been completed and the proposed approach has been approved by its Board.

It added that the delivery plan is in the development phase and full implementation will take longer than initially envisaged. "In the first phase, the ECB has established a new role of Head of Discipline with responsibility for managing discrimination allegations from within the recreational game, assisting counties with issues which arise and overseeing the investigations process," the ECB said in a statement.

"This role, which will be supported by two managers, will be in place from June 2022. "The addition of these new resources follows on from the creation, as reported in the previous update, of a game-wide system allowing anyone to report an incident of discrimination that they have experienced in recreational cricket.

"Separate systems are in place for reporting and managing any incidents within the professional game and any related to ECB employees." The ECB has published its third update on the implementation of cricket's action plan to tackle racism and promote inclusion and diversity at all levels of the game. It all started with Azeem Rafiq's allegations of racism against him during his stint at Yorkshire.

The ECB got down to put its house in order in November last year after Yorkshire player Gary Ballance admitted to using a racial slur against his ex-teammate Rafiq. The ECB has subsequently banned Yorkshire county from hosting international