- Report says cricket rife with racism, sexism and class discrimination
- Botham did not contribute to the Independent Commission for Fairness in Cricket
- ECB President Richard Thompson questioned Botham over the criticism
The ECB has been criticized by the author of an anti-racism report for lacking the “moral backbone” to criticize Lord Botham, who described its contents as “nonsense”.
The former England all-rounder, who is now Durham chairman, claimed last year that he was not asked to contribute to the Independent Commission for Fairness in Cricket (ICEC), which published a 300-page report last June in the who considered cricket to be riddled with racism, sexism and class discrimination.
Speaking to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday, ICEC chair Cindi Butts expressed her “disappointment” with the ECB for failing to distance itself from Botham’s comments, which she then widely refuted by revealing that They had asked him to testify. .
“I was disappointed that the ECB did not report Lord Botham,” Butts said. ‘As the president of a first-class county, his words carry weight. The ECB did not see fit to come out and say, “This is wrong.” I think they not only stayed silent, but they resisted calls from stakeholders and people who were concerned about Lord Botham’s comments and chose to remain silent. They should have had a moral backbone on this issue.
‘We invited Lord Botham to give evidence before us.’ He did not answer. Your county chair, Durham, contributed to our request for written evidence and we thank them for that.
Former England all-rounder Ian Botham called anti-racism report ‘nonsense’
ECB President Richard Thompson called Botham to question his criticisms
‘He (Botham) said he did not know anyone who had contributed to our report when, in fact, several well-known cricketers, including Heather Knight, the England women’s captain, responded and gave us evidence. So there are a number of falsehoods in what he said about the report.’
ECB President Richard Thompson responded by revealing that he called Botham as soon as his comments made on Simon Jordan’s Up Front podcast last summer were reported to tell him that he disagreed with him and to offer him more details about the ECB’s conclusions. ICEC.
“I called Lord Botham immediately,” Thompson said. ‘I don’t agree with what he said, but he has the right to his opinion. However, Durham is doing very good things by increasing diversity, participation and access to sport in its region.’