{"id":311438,"date":"2025-12-12T05:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/311438\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T05:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:15:13","slug":"concern-over-cricket-corruption-after-100-intelligence-reports-filed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/311438\/","title":{"rendered":"Concern over cricket corruption after 100 intelligence reports filed"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u2014 compared with only four in the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n

Chris Haward, director of the cricket regulator, has sounded the warning after a spike in allegations that it has been tasked with investigating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t that we\u2019ve 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\u2019s an awful lot of money going through those games,\u201d Haward said.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Haward joined the cricket regulator from the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the games last year, or certainly one of them, topped \u00a3100million in one game. And that\u2019s on the open gambling markets. So you\u2019re talking \u00a350,000 per delivery.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers and officials are now really good at telling us when they think they\u2019re being approached and somebody\u2019s making illicit approaches to them around gambling, but this year we\u2019ve had over 100 intelligence reports coming into us from people both within the game and participants around the game telling us about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The number of investigations are] not at the volume I thought they might be \u2014 and actually quite a lot of it has probably been a slightly lower level than I might have expected,\u201d he said. \u201cOverall I\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely that explosion of women\u2019s cricket happening and there are some risks around the women\u2019s game \u2014 the fact that we\u2019ve got young players coming in very, very quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cThe pathways aren\u2019t necessarily as well developed as they would be in boys\u2019 cricket. Boys coming through generally tend to be in the pathways a lot longer than girls moving into women\u2019s cricket. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are young women and girls in county senior teams and everybody acknowledges there\u2019s some catch-up work to do there to manage the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

ICEC made 44 recommendations to the ECB as part of its damning 2023 report<\/p>\n

JOSIMAR SENIOR<\/p>\n

Haward, a former chief constable, points out that 60 per cent of those in the game now recognise the regulator\u2019s brand and adds that, crucially, \u201cthe vast majority of people playing cricket now know how to report a concern\u201d.<\/p>\n

Haward points to two threats. First, \u201csexual discrimination, straight misogyny\u201d, observing that misconduct cases often involve a concerning \u201cimbalance of power and position\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s offices and its communications are done by the governing body. But Haward insists there is no interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has any say on what we investigate, how we investigate, who we investigate or the timelines under which we do it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m comfortable at the moment that we have not had interference or influence from any organisations and my investigations team is firewalled.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corruption remains one of the biggest threats to English cricket, it has been claimed, after more than 100…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-311438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}