Corruption remains one of the biggest threats to English cricket, it has been claimed, after more than 100 intelligence reports were compiled in the past year — compared with only four in the previous 12 months.
Chris Haward, director of the cricket regulator, has sounded the warning after a spike in allegations that it has been tasked with investigating.
“It isn’t that we’ve got corrupt players or corrupt practices, but the change in the gambling market and how franchise cricket is starting to influence behaviours in gambling markets is a real concern and there’s an awful lot of money going through those games,” Haward said.
Haward joined the cricket regulator from the National Police Chiefs’ Council
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“Some of the games last year, or certainly one of them, topped £100million in one game. And that’s on the open gambling markets. So you’re talking £50,000 per delivery.
“Players and officials are now really good at telling us when they think they’re being approached and somebody’s making illicit approaches to them around gambling, but this year we’ve had over 100 intelligence reports coming into us from people both within the game and participants around the game telling us about this.”
The cricket regulatory body was set up in 2023 after a damning report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) found widespread instances of racism, sexism and elitism in the game. The regulator handles investigations into a host of matters, including discipline on and off the field, discrimination and equality, and corruption and match-fixing.
Haward was appointed head of that body a year ago and says that although there remain some serious issues within the sport, as highlighted by the number of investigations he and his team have undertaken in the past 12 months, it is a positive sign that people within the game are feeling confident enough to report the issues in the first place.
“[The number of investigations are] not at the volume I thought they might be — and actually quite a lot of it has probably been a slightly lower level than I might have expected,” he said. “Overall I’m encouraged by the progress the game is making, but it is important that we hear the views of people within the game, because it gives us a feel and starts to build an intelligence picture around where the areas of concern are.”
There have been more than 100 investigations relating to the professional game and almost 500 from within the amateur game in his first year. As of the end of October, the regulator handled 17 cases of sexual misconduct, six suspensions relating to safeguarding (protection of children and young people) and 30 cases of discrimination (covering racist, sexist, homophobic and disability-related cases) in the professional game.
There have also been 25 corruption-related investigations and 20 on-field discipline cases, with the disciplinary panel having held seven hearings that led to sanctions. The remit of the regulator has been extended into the recreational game, with 241 cases of sexual misconduct, 168 discrimination cases and 79 safeguarding suspensions being examined.
This year there were three cases of professional coaches at three different counties being found guilty of sexual misconduct and discrimination, which led to one coach being banned for nine months and another for six months. Haward says there is work to do to ensure the quality of safeguarding procedures keeps pace with the growth of the women’s game.
“There’s definitely that explosion of women’s cricket happening and there are some risks around the women’s game — the fact that we’ve got young players coming in very, very quickly,” he said. “The pathways aren’t necessarily as well developed as they would be in boys’ cricket. Boys coming through generally tend to be in the pathways a lot longer than girls moving into women’s cricket.
“There are young women and girls in county senior teams and everybody acknowledges there’s some catch-up work to do there to manage the risks.”
ICEC made 44 recommendations to the ECB as part of its damning 2023 report
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Haward, a former chief constable, points out that 60 per cent of those in the game now recognise the regulator’s brand and adds that, crucially, “the vast majority of people playing cricket now know how to report a concern”.
Haward points to two threats. First, “sexual discrimination, straight misogyny”, observing that misconduct cases often involve a concerning “imbalance of power and position”, such as between coaches and younger players. The second, two years on from the ICEC report, remains racial discrimination, with several allegations continuing to be investigated. Haward believes the biggest hurdle lies in convincing victims to have faith in the new system, having been burnt in the past by either being victimised for reporting issues or having their allegations ignored.
The cricket regulator is, unlike the new football regulator, not a statutory body and there are questions about quite how independent it is, given that it sits within the ECB’s offices and its communications are done by the governing body. But Haward insists there is no interference.
“Nobody has any say on what we investigate, how we investigate, who we investigate or the timelines under which we do it,” he said. “I’m comfortable at the moment that we have not had interference or influence from any organisations and my investigations team is firewalled.”