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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
and
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the
Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches (established ...
, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council. In April 1998 the Women's Cricket Association was integrated into the organisation. The ECB's head offices are at
Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County ...
in north-west London. The board oversees all levels of cricket in England and Wales, including the national teams : England Men (Test, One Day International and T20I),
England Women The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Associat ...
, England Lions (Men's second tier), Physical Disability, Learning Disability, Visually Impaired, and Deaf. Although the organisation is the England and Wales Cricket Board, it is referred to as the ECB not the EWCB as a result of a decision by those overseeing the transition from the previous bodies.


Structure and role

The ECB is run by an executive management team that reports directly to the chief executive officer (CEO), an office held on an interim basis since May 2022 by
Clare Connor Clare Joanne Connor (born 1 September 1976) is an English former cricketer who batted right-handed and bowled slow left arm spin. She held the presidency of Marylebone Cricket Club from 2021 until 2022. She made her England One Day Internati ...
. She in turn reports to the Chair of the ECB Board, a position held by Richard Thompson since September 2022. Richard Gould will take over as permanent CEO from January 2023. An executive committee chaired by the CEO is responsible for delivering the ECB's strategic plans. Three other committees – Cricket; Audit, Risk and Governance; and Regulatory – work with the senior management team on policy, planning and strategic issues. The ECB Management Board is composed of a Chair, a Senior Independent Non-Executive Director, three Independent Non-Executive Directors, five Cricket Non-Executive Directors, the CEO and the Chief Financial Officer. There are 41 members of the ECB: * The Chairs of the 18 First-Class Counties * The Chairs of the 21 County Boards in National Counties (formerly the Minor Counties) * The Chair of
Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influe ...
(MCC) * The Chair of the National Counties Cricket Association One of the main responsibilities of the ECB is the preparation and development of the teams that represent England at the highest level in Test and ODI play. The National Selector, head coach and other coaches are ECB employees. The ECB also employs the English Test match captain and other centrally contracted players, as well as being responsible for the
National Cricket Performance Centre The National Cricket Performance Centre first came into existence in the winter of 2001–2002 and has been based at Loughborough University since 2003. In 2007 following the "Schofield Report" the National Academy was renamed the National Cricke ...
, currently based at
Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when ...
in Leicestershire. The long-term strategy to deliver world championships in the men's and women's games had a successful conclusion in the summer of 2019. England won the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time, emulating the feat of their female counterparts, who had become world champions for the fourth time in 2017. The ECB is responsible for the financial direction and commercial exploitation of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
cricket. It raises revenue from the proceeds of sales for tickets at
One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
and Test matches in England and Wales. The ECB is also responsible for the generation of income from the sale of sponsorship and broadcasting rights, primarily in relation to the English team. Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the UK. More than 1.1 million adults attend cricket matches each year, while 2.5 million people play the game at all levels in England and Wales. Almost 10 million people – about 20% of the adult population – follow the sport. Since 2009, 4 million schoolchildren have been introduced to cricket by the Chance To Shine programme. In 2017 the ECB signed a new media rights deal valued at £1.1billion to cover the five years between 2020 and 2024. This deal will be used to fund a broad range of initiatives across the sport at all levels, including a guaranteed and unprecedented £475million to fund the county network – First-Class Counties, National Counties and County Boards. While the ECB administers all aspects of English cricket, the laws of the game remain in the control of MCC. In April 2017 the Articles of Association were changed to allow a new White-ball Cricket competition to be run from 2020, comprising 8 teams and run during school summer holidays. The T20 event has become The Hundred. In May 2018 ECB launched an action plan for engaging South Asian audiences in England and Wales. In January 2019 ECB launched its Inspiring Generations strategy for cricket across 2020–2024. The strategy aims to ''Inspire a generation to say Cricket is a game for me''. Alongside its five-year plan, in October 2019 ECB launched plans to transform women's and girls' cricket. The ECB also leads the sport's efforts with regard to the integrity of cricket, including anti-doping and anti-corruption initiatives, and safeguarding of all who play and administer the game. In the 2017-2018 financial year, the ECB's turnover was £125.5 million.


National teams

Men's Test team: England played in the first Test match, against Australia in 1877, and has been one of the world's leading exponents of the five-day form of cricket ever since. England has been a full member of the International Cricket Council since 1909. The position of Men's Test captain, as of 28th April 2022, is occupied by
Ben Stokes Benjamin Andrew Stokes (born 4 June 1991) is an English international cricketer who is the captain of the England Test team and plays for the England Twenty20 International (T20I) team. In domestic cricket, he represents Durham and has playe ...
. Men's one-day team: England featured in the first One-Day International, against Australia in 1971. England won the men's Cricket World Cup for the first time in a thrilling final against New Zealand at Lord's in July 2019. England's only previous limited-overs global title came in the T20 World Cup in 2010. As of July 2020, the team's captain was
Eoin Morgan Eoin (, or ) is an Irish name. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent is () and both are closely related to the Welsh . It is also cognate with the Irish . In the Irish language, it is the name used for all Biblical figures known as ''John'' in Engl ...
. Women's team: England featured in the first Women's Test series, against Australia in 1934–35, where they won 2-0 despite the enduring rancour from the Bodyline series of two winters before. They have won the World Cup four times, most recently in 2017. The team is captained, as of July 2020, by Heather Knight. Disability teams: The ECB is committed to facilitating access to the sport for people with disabilities. It aims to have 300 clubs offering disabled provision by 2024. The four teams administered by the ECB are Physical Disability, Learning Disability, Visually Impaired and Deaf.


County Cricket

First-Class Counties: There are 18 First-Class Counties, 17 in England and one, Glamorgan, in Wales. County cricket developed in the 1740s and the first County Championship was played in 1890. From 2020 onwards there are 10 teams in Division One and eight in Division Two. The ECB plays a part in the administration of a county through the County Partnership Agreement, a structure set up in late 2019 designed to improve two-way communication between the ECB and the counties and to ensure the successful implementation of the inspiring Generations strategy between 2020 and 2024. National Counties: Formerly known as the Minor Counties, these are the 21 areas where cricket is played on a county-wide basis but without first-class status. The Minor Counties Championship was first staged in 1895. From 2020 onwards, the counties’ Western and Eastern divisions are split into two five-team groups between which sides are relegated and promoted. Each county also has a County Partnership Agreement with the ECB. County Boards: Recreational cricket at all levels in each county is administered by a county board. There are more than 6,500 recreational cricket clubs and 40 county boards in total, including boards for Wales and the Isle of Wight. Each board has a County Partnership Agreement with the ECB. The intention is for the whole of cricket to think collectively about how to work together for the present and future stability and growth of the game. The ECB also works at grassroots level with organisations such as Chance To Shine that are dedicated to encouraging talented and enthusiastic youngsters to play as much cricket as possible and maximise their potential. Cricket in Wales: Historically, there have been claims that Wales should break away from the ECB and have its own international team, like Ireland and Scotland. However, Cricket Wales and Glamorgan have consistently supported the ECB and the concept that Welsh players of international standard will continue to represent England. Domestic competitions: First-class counties compete in the following: * LV= Insurance County Championship *
Royal London One-Day Cup The Royal London One-Day Cup is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. It began in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran from 2010 to 2013. In contrast to its 40-ov ...
* Vitality Blast T20


The County Boards

Subject to certain exceptions, each historic county in England has either an ECB County Cricket Club or Cricket Board as below. The first-class counties are represented directly at the ECB, whereas the minor counties retain a Cricket Board. * Bedfordshire Cricket Board * Berkshire Cricket Board * Buckinghamshire Cricket Board * Cambridgeshire Cricket Board * Cheshire Cricket Board * Cornwall Cricket Board * Cumbria Cricket Board *
Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...
* Devon Cricket Board * Dorset Cricket Board * Durham County Cricket Club *
Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...
*
Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club ( cy, Criced Morgannwg) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan ( cy, Morgannwg). Founded in 1888, ...
*
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always ...
*
Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations, princi ...
* Herefordshire Cricket Board * Hertfordshire Cricket Board * Huntingdonshire Cricket Board * Isle of Wight Cricket Board *
Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...
*
Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, although the team also play ...
*
Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the count ...
* Lincolnshire Cricket Board *
Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...
* Norfolk Cricket Board *
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northa ...
* Northumberland Cricket Board *
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called the ...
* Oxfordshire Cricket Board * Shropshire Cricket Board *
Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...
* Staffordshire Cricket Board * Suffolk Cricket Board *
Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London. ...
*
Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The ...
* Cricket Wales *
Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire. Its T20 team is called the Birmingham Bears. Found ...
* Wiltshire Cricket Board *
Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebrande ...
*
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...
Rutland shares a board with neighbouring Leicestershire, an echo of the 18th century Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Club. Hampshire as such has two boards given that the Isle of Wight has its own. Westmorland and Cumberland are replaced by Cumbria, a
ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...
created in 1974. An additional board exists for the whole country of Wales and is incorporated within the ECB. Most counties have clubs which are members of either the
County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...
or the Minor Counties Cricket Championship. Rutland and the Isle of Wight do not have county clubs and are wholly integrated for that purpose with Leicestershire and Hampshire respectively.
Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the minor counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Huntingdonshire. The club does not currently compete in either the ...
has a chequered history and now plays informal matches only. Cumberland and Westmorland originally shared Cumberland County Cricket Club as a joint county club. It is now representative of Cumbria as a whole and plays matches in both of the two traditional counties; there has never been a club called Westmorland.


Status of Wales

Historically, the England team represented the whole of
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
in international cricket, with Scottish or Welsh national teams playing sporadically and players from both countries occasionally representing England. Following Ireland's membership in 1993,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
became an independent member of the ICC the next year. With Welsh players pursuing international careers exclusively with an England team, there have been a number of calls for Wales to become an independent member of the ICC, or for the ECB to provide more fixtures for a Welsh national team. However, both Cricket Wales and
Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club ( cy, Criced Morgannwg) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan ( cy, Morgannwg). Founded in 1888, ...
have continually supported the ECB, with Glamorgan arguing for the financial benefits of the Welsh county within the English structure, and Cricket Wales stating they are "committed to continuing to play a major role within the ECB" The absence of a Welsh cricket team has seen a number of debates within the Welsh Parliament. In 2013 a debate saw both
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and Labour members lend their support to the establishment of an independent Welsh team. In 2015, a report produced by the Welsh Parliament's petitions committee, reflected the passionate debate around the issue.
Bethan Jenkins Bethan Sayed (née Jenkins, born 9 December 1981) is a Welsh politician. She represented the South Wales West Region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the Senedd from 2007 to 2021. Early life and education Sayed was born in Aberdare, the daugh ...
, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on heritage, culture, sport and broadcasting, and a member of the petitions committee, argued that Wales should have its own international team and withdraw from the ECB. Jenkins noted that Ireland (with a population of 6.4 million) was an ICC member with 6,000 club players whereas Wales (with 3.2 million) had 7,500. Jenkins said: "Cricket Wales and Glamorgan CCC say the idea of a Welsh national cricket team is ‘an emotive subject’, of course having a national team is emotive, you only have to look at the stands during any national game to see that. To suggest this as anything other than natural is a bit of a misleading argument." In 2017, the
First Minister of Wales , insignia = First Minister of Wales logo.png , insigniasize = 120px , insigniacaption = Logo , flag = Flag of Wales.svg , flagsize = 120px , flagborder = yes , flagcaption = Flag of Wales , image = File:Mark Drakeford (cropped).jpg , ...
, Carwyn Jones called for the reintroduction of the Welsh one day team stating: " tis odd that we see Ireland and Scotland playing in international tournaments and not Wales." In 2019, Plaid Cymru member Jonathan Edwards called for Wales to separate from the England and Wales Cricket Board by 2020 and to establish itself as an independent national team, Mr. Edwards said; “We have a Welsh rugby team, football team, basketball team, even a national lacrosse team. In cricket, however, we are still incorporated into England. That surely can’t be right.”


Inspiring Generations

In 2019 the ECB launched a game-wide strategy to grow interest in, and engagement with, cricket over the five years between 2020 and 2024. Its vision is that by the latter date a new generation of fans will have been inspired to say: “Cricket is a game for me.” Inspiring Generations has been made possible by the signing of a media rights deal worth about £1.1billion, the vast majority of which will be paid by Sky television. As a result, the ECB has identified 26 activities that will made up the overarching Inspiring Generations strategy. The key focus is on six areas, in which the ECB has pledged to: * Grow and nurture cricket's core, the county network * Inspire through the exploits of elite teams * Make cricket accessible to as many people as possible * Engage children and young people * Transform women's and girls’ cricket * Support its communities


Women’s and Girls’ Strategy

One of the most important elements of the Inspiring Generations strategy is the delivery of a plan to make cricket a truly gender-balanced sport and to build on the significant progress in the women's game in the first two decades of the 21st century. The ECB has promised by 2021 to invest £20million specifically into the transformation of women's and girls’ cricket. This process is built around the following five targets: * Participation – bringing girls’ cricket to more schools and clubs * Pathway – raising standards in local girls’ cricket * Performance – unveiling a new regional elite domestic structure for the women's game * Profile – promoting awareness of elite female players * People – increasing the number of women in the cricket workforce and leadership roles More than 850 clubs now offer women's and girls’ cricket, a total that was fewer than 100 in 2009.


The Hundred

In 2020 the ECB launched a new competition called The Hundred which the board said was designed to appeal to families and younger cricket fans. The new competition, where each side has a 100 balls, is designed to be fast moving and is aimed at a young, digitally-savvy, urban audience who want a game that is simple to understand, packed with action and completed in less than three hours. Eight new teams were created by the ECB and based in cities across England and Wales. New branding and identities have been created for players who are familiar to existing cricket fans playing for sides who no longer bear the names of traditional counties. The team names are: * Birmingham Phoenix * London Spirit * Manchester Originals * Northern Superchargers * Oval Invincibles * Southern Brave * Trent Rockets * Welsh Fire The best players in England, and many of the biggest stars in the world, signed up for The Hundred. Men's and women's teams will represent each of the new outfits – it is claimed that it is unprecedented to run a national competition in a major sport in which the men's and women's teams are so closely aligned. The men's squads were finalised in October 2019 at an NFL-style draft, the first time such a system had been applied to a major UK competition. The competition also sees the return after 15 years of live cricket to free-to-air television. The BBC will be screening at least ten matches live from the men's competition, including the final. Some traditional supporters of cricket have questioned the ECB's motivation for launching a new format of the sport, but the ECB's response is that The Hundred will attract a new audience who will, in turn, become fans of more established forms of the sport. The launch of The Hundred competition has officially been delayed by one year, to 2021, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.


The South Asian Action Plan

In 2018, the ECB launched an initiative designed to increase engagement in cricket in England and Wales among people who trace their ancestry to nations in south Asia – such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – where cricket has historically been hugely popular. The decision was taken to engage with this community in particular because more than 30% of active cricketers in England and Wales at the time identified as being of South Asian extraction. The SAAP was driven by research and community-led in an attempt to break down barriers to playing and watching cricket. The 11 principal action points included installing non-traditional playing facilities in urban areas and delivering cricket at schools with a higher than national average representation of BAME pupils. One significant early success was the opening in 2019 of the Leyton Cricket Hub in east London, the first urban cricket centre of its kind in the country. The SAAP also led to the installation of 110 non-turf pitches in urban areas and the recruitment of 600 female volunteers to boost the initiative.


All Stars Cricket

All Stars Cricket is the ECB's entry-level participation programme for boys and girls aged between five and eight. It consists of eight one-hour sessions over eight weeks and the emphasis is on fun and activity. The programme is designed for all children who are new to cricket and focuses on the sport's specific skills, as well as activity and teamwork in general. In 2019, more than 67,000 children took part in sessions at more than 2,200 clubs.


Major domestic competitions

*
County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...
*
Royal London One-Day Cup The Royal London One-Day Cup is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. It began in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran from 2010 to 2013. In contrast to its 40-ov ...
* T20 Blast * The hundred * * *


See also

* Cricket in England * Cricket in Wales * Association of Cricket Officials


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:England And Wales Cricket Board
Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
1997 establishments in the United Kingdom
Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
Private companies limited by guarantee of England Organisations based in the City of Westminster