Deserved respect, not ridicule: Wisden speaks out about crickets ICEC report | Cricket

Wisden has strongly endorsed last year's report from the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, with the 161st edition of the legendary sporting annual report insisting that the panel's findings and recommendations deserved respect, not ridicule.

Commissioned by the England & Wales Cricket Board in 2021, and published during last summer's double Ashes series, the ICEC report found that 50% of 4,000 respondents had experienced discrimination in the past five years, a figure that is rising significantly among people from ethnically diverse backgrounds. .

Despite the ECB saying the findings of the panel chaired by Cindy Butts have raised serious issues of public concern, including inequality in representation on the ground and in leadership roles, criticism has been voiced in some quarters. Ian Botham, the chairman of Durham, said he threw his copy on the floor after reading it, a total waste of money.

However, Wisden, which was published this week and long regarded as a touchstone for the sport, has endorsed the ICEC report in its editorial and published an explanatory essay by one of its authors, UCL professor Michael Collins. Collins claims that Botham was asked to give his opinion more than once, but for whatever reason he declined.

[The ICEC report] was a sober and sobering piece of work, writes Lawrence Booth in the editorial notes of the 2024 Wisden Cricketers Almanack. [Its] 317 pages, based on interviews with more than 4,000 people, deserved respect, not ridicule.

The report did not take a wrecking ball to cricket. It offered a constructive vision of how we could make it more accessible to more young people from more backgrounds, and who could argue with that? The real question is whether English cricket is willing to change.

Elsewhere, Wisden has analyzed the International Cricket Council's renewed revenue sharing, with India rising from 25% to 38.5%, about US$230 million ($184.5 million) a year, and the 11 other full members between 6 .89% (England) and 2.80% received. % (Afghanistan) considered calculated based on factors that anchored inequality.

There are plenty [cash] in the central pot of crickets, writes Booth. Is it really beyond the minds of the administrators to distribute it based on need and not greed?

Test cricket is the main concern here, although Wisden is also a celebration of it this year. In addition to a full review of the riveting 2023 Ashes series, and all five cricketers of the year, Harry Brook, Ashley Gardner, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc and Mark Wood were selected for appearances in the longest format.

A 2-2 draw in the men's Ashes is reflected by the four winners it produced, even as Brooks' overall summer with the bat after a standout first winter of Test cricket sees him win the once-in-a-career prize won . Wood was the opposite: only three Ashes Tests were played in the entire season, but he was in shock and awe when he did so.

For Khawaja, this follows a highest score of 496 runs in the Ashes from 1,263 balls in the series in microcosm given England's contrasting aggression, while Starc showed his mastery of the wobble seam to dismiss the leading wicket-taker with 23 victims. Gardner, the third Australian on the list, claimed 12 wickets in her side's Test victory at Trent Bridge, a central contribution to their side's women's side, who similarly retained the Ashes with a draw.

It's a 1-1 draw between Australia and England in terms of Wisden's leading cricketer in the world. Pat Cummins claims the men's title after taking his country to victory in the World Test Championship and the 50-over World Cup (as well as individual excellence with the ball). Nat Sciver-Brunt is the leading women's cricketer in the world, with three ODI centuries in five innings, amid an overall year of dominance with the bat.

Wisden's leading T20 cricketer in the world, an award now in its seventh year, has its first female winner, with West Indies' Hayley Matthews recognized for her unprecedented eight consecutive Player of the Match awards in T20s (the previous record was four). she averages 88 with the bat and 12 with the ball.