Cricket must take his medicine and change, but the ECB risks missing the point

Ebony Rainford-Brent founded the ACE program in 2020 with the goal of increasing the number of black players in sports. Photo: Getty Images/Philip Brown

“I think if we were to go into these areas, diversity would come automatically. And so for me, that's the #1 thing I want us to hack.» Among the 44 recommendations, six focus on schools and talent development pathways. For the first time, cricket was seriously tasked with solving social and economic problems.

They recommend developing an action plan for the state's schools within 12 months and making sure lanes in the district are free, which it estimates will cost between £4 million and £5 million. For now, the cricket just needs to swallow its medicine and promise to get better. The scandal in Yorkshire took a huge toll on cricket, but it escalated into a violent individual court drama rather than a broader treatment of cricket.

This report limits the use of disturbing readings, but instead methodically gathers years of evidence in one place, making it difficult to store and ignore in Lord's locked closet.

Gould, who has been in office since January, and Thompson, who was appointed last September, face mammoth challenges to meet the standards set by the report in a direct challenge to the way the cricket establishment has played the sport for decades. It will be a painful path.