County chairmen to face MPs' questions on diversity and governance

Mike O'Farrell of Middlesex, Hampshire's Rod Bransgrove and Gareth Williams of Glamorgan will join Yorkshire chair Lord Kamlesh Patel in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee on January 25

Four county chairmen will give evidence to MPs next week as the parliamentary inquiry into English cricket's diversity problems continues.

Mike O'Farrell of Middlesex, Hampshire's Rod Bransgrove, and Gareth Williams of Glamorgan will join Yorkshire chair Lord Kamlesh Patel in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

The quartet will be quizzed on their counties' approach to diversity, their views on the ECB's proposed 12-point plan to address discrimination and bias within the domestic cricket system, and the current state of governance and regulation in the sport.

The hearing, which has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 25, is also expected to feature representation from the ECB.

^{Glamorgan chairman Gareth Williams, left, is among the chairman called by the DCMS select committee (Polly Thomas/Getty Images)}

The governing body endured a difficult time in front of MPs on their previous appearance in mid-November, when testimony from Azeem Rafiq was also heard.

Following that sitting of the panel, a cross-game initiative to tackle racism and promote equality of access within cricket in England and Wales was proposed and ratified by ECB member organisations. 

That project is set to be followed with an eagle eye by the DCMS select committee. The panel were scathing in their assessment of both the ECB and Yorkshire CCC in a report released last week.

Within it was a proposal that public funding be restricted until such a point that cricket can prove it is making progress on matters of diversity, equality and racism.

The committee also recommended that the ECB report back to MPs each quarter to update on what action has been taken, and its effects.