From gloves to bats, cricket gear buyers are stumped by a lack of clarity

It might not be your breakfast-table topic of choice, but we need to talk about cricket equipment. During the lockdown summer of 2020, Prof Martin Charter, from the Centre for Sustainable Design (CfSD) in Surrey, and the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) pulled stakeholders together to discuss the issues surrounding the manufacture of cricket gear. They weren’t quite sure what they would find.

Following Tuesday’s hand-over-eyes showing at the DCMS committee hearing, it won’t perhaps come as much of a surprise to learn that one of the biggest issues they encountered in the game was a lack of transparency.

“Although there has been quite a lot of work done on sustainability and cricket at the macro level, for example on cricket stadia,” says Charter, “that is very different when you come to manufacturing. There is very little research in the public domain, especially when you consider that we are talking about the second-biggest sport on the planet. We know very little of the supply chain. There is a lot of outsourcing to Asia, for example, with details unknown.”

The final report on Sustainability, Cricket Gear, Clothing and Apparel, published last week, reveals a dearth of information from manufacturers on topics ranging from employment rights and child labour to working conditions.

As Charter points out, football started addressing a number of these issues in the 1990s (though stories of outrageous practice still crop up) – with the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WSGFI) working alongside Fifa to try to ensure that its licensed products are made in compliance with the WFSGI code of conduct. There appears to be no such scheme in cricket.

There is also a lack of knowledge about the