Cricket told to rid "endemic racism" from the sport or face losing government funding

A new report from MP's has found there's 'deep-seated' racism within cricket.

It follows allegations made by former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq, which has led to a huge shake-up.

The findings by a Parliamentary Committee suggests public money 'should be withheld' from cricket unless the sport can 'clean up its act' on racism.

Here are the key points from the report:

• The committee were "convinced" by Azeem Rafiq's "moving evidence" about the racial abuse he suffered across two spells at Yorkshire and his conviction that this was not just something he had experienced personally but which was an "endemic problem across the whole of cricket".

• The committee "had concerns" about what it saw as a lack of co-ordinated action between Yorkshire and the England and Wales Cricket Board to address Rafiq's complaints.

• The existence of the South Asian Action Plan showed the game was aware of an issue.

• The language used in correspondence received by committee members subsequent to Rafiq's testimony, and the attempts to "discredit" Rafiq in the media, demonstrated to the committee that there was a "deep seated" issue with racism in cricket.

• The committee said future public funding for cricket should be dependent on "continuous, demonstrable progress" in getting rid of racism.

• The committee recommended that the ECB should develop a set of key indicators to measure their progress, and update the committee on their progress against those indicators on a quarterly basis.

Yorkshire and the ECB were invited to give evidence to the committee on progress they have made in early 2022.

In response to the report, new Chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Lord Patel said: "We welcome the select committee's call for demonstrable action to rid our sport of racism and discrimination. Azeem Rafiq's testimony was a watershed moment for the sport as a whole, and we are committed to ensuring that no-one endures the unacceptable experience that he did at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

"In the last two months Yorkshire County Cricket Club has made significant progress in our efforts to rebuild, and I am heartened that the committee considers that there is room for optimism in what we have achieved. We share that optimism and have made some real improvements, but we are only at the start of this long and important journey."

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• yorkshire county cricket club