Racism in Cricket

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Wednesday 10th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

The noble Lord makes an important point. Something clearly went catastrophically wrong with the culture at board level at Yorkshire County Cricket Club. It is good that the former chairman and two other members of the board have resigned, and that the noble Lord, Lord Patel of Bradford, has come in to drive the culture change that is needed there. It also makes the important point, as he does, about the need for diversity and representation at senior levels in sport, which we are aware of.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords, I should first point out that I am a member of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Essex County Cricket Club, Middlesex County Cricket Club and MCC. With our friend, the noble Lord, Lord Patel, now installed in Yorkshire, a committee of inquiry being undertaken in the other place and an investigation being carried out by the England and Wales Cricket Board, do the Government not have some space to consider whether any specific action on their part is required to confront the appalling incidents that have come to light? At the same time, perhaps to get some sense of perspective, we should remind ourselves that cricket has its finer aspects, which hopefully will be on display again in Abu Dhabi this afternoon.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My noble friend is right: the vast majority of people who play and enjoy cricket have the right attitude. He is a well-published author on the subject as well as being a member of all the clubs he mentioned. My honourable friend the Sports Minister met the England and Wales Cricket Board at the department on Friday to seek the assurances we wanted to hear about the approach it is taking. We are following that very closely and will not hesitate to take action ourselves if we think it necessary.