ECB partners with Kick It Out

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced a partnership with football's leading anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, supported by Sky, in an attempt to address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion within the sport.

The project, to which Sky have pledged £100,000, comes after a parliamentary committee released a report earlier this month stating that racism in cricket is "deep-seated" and the sport needs to "clean up its act".

The report followed Azeem Rafiq's emotional testimony to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee about the racist abuse he faced during two stints at Yorkshire beginning in 2008 and ending in 2018.

The partnership with Kick It Out is part of a game-wide 12-point plan announced by the ECB in November to tackle discrimination and marks the first time the charity has ventured outside of football.

In a statement announcing the partnership, Kick It Out said: "While some of the challenges remain similar across sports, cricket has its own set of nuanced questions to answer and obstacles to overcome.

"As a result, the initial partnership between ECB and Kick It Out will largely consist of efforts to scope out and research the specific issues at play in the sport. Together with the ECB, Kick It Out will then highlight any areas in which they can offer expertise in developing and implementing plans to build a more inclusive cricketing environment."

Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett added: "Cricket has been highlighted over the last year as a sport potentially in need of a new direction, when it comes to driving inclusion and equality, and we want to use the significant expertise we have developed in this area in football, to see if there is an opportunity