Warwickshire Cricket Board

ECB today announced a wide-ranging Action Plan to transform the way it engages with South Asian communities and draw more players, fans and volunteers into every level of the game.

The Action Plan was launched with a series of events in three ‘core cities’ including a Chance to Shine Street Tape-ball competition at Sparkhill Park in Birmingham, a schools’ Cricket competition at Bradford Park Avenue Cricket Ground in Yorkshire and a women’s and girls’ cricketing session at Leyton County Ground Sport Centre in East London.

As part of the ECB’s ambition to make cricket more representative and reflective of modern communities, a South Asian Advisory Group was put together by Chief Strategy Officer David Mahoney. The group includes experienced individuals from within and outside the game such as Wasim Khan, Isa Guha, Mark Nicholas, Manoj Badale, Ron Khalifa among many others. The group looked at the challenges facing South Asian communities at every level of the game
To develop the plan, the project team, led by Head of Strategy Vikram Banerjee, conducted the largest ever UK study into cricket in South Asian communities, analysing tens of thousands of survey responses and hundreds of database records to understand how these diverse groups view cricket.

The ECB Action Plan set out 11 recommended actions which include:

• Urban Cricket Centres: The creation of 20+ new Urban Cricket Centres and the development of 1,000 non-turf and 100 turf pitches by 2024.
• Community Talent Champions: Piloting the implementation of ‘Community Talent Champions’ to scout talent previously missed by the scouting system.
• Primary Schools: The delivery of cricket sessions to 6,000 primary schools in deprived urban communities through Chance to Shine by 2019.
• Diversity in Coaching: The adoption of the ‘Rooney Rule’ to support the progression of BAME coaches working in professional game for all future ECB coaching roles. Working with the ten ‘core cities’ to train and develop 200 female coaches.
• Bursaries: The awarding of bursaries to talented young South Asian players.