ECB encourage Cindy Butts and Baroness Warsi to join board and maintain female representation

EXCLUSIVE - GEORGE DOBELL: With the game likely to be embroiled in a prolonged crisis centred around the issue of inclusion, the addition of two highly experienced women from diverse backgrounds would provide valuable insight and knowledge

Cindy Butts, the chair of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), and Baroness Warsi, the former co-chair of the Conservative party, are among the candidates who have been asked to consider joining the board of the ECB.

The ECB are currently recruiting five new non-executive directors to replace those who have either served their time limit or resigned.

Among those who have either left or are about to leave the board are Lucy Pearson, who was the only former international cricketer on the board, Baroness Valerie Amos, and the late Brenda Trenowden.

That could potentially leave the board with only one female member.

^{Baroness Warsi has been asked to consider joining the ECB board [Getty Images]}

With the game likely to be embroiled in a prolonged crisis centred around the issue of inclusion, the addition of two highly experienced women from diverse backgrounds would provide valuable insight and knowledge.

Butts has extensive experience in senior roles spanning governance and inclusion in government, and in the policing and justice sectors.

She is a lay member of the House of Commons Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, a lay member of the House of Lords Conduct Committee, and panel chair for the Judicial Appointments Commission.

She has previously been deputy chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), where she led on organisational and culture reforms, and was a trustee of the charity Kick It Out, which seeks to eradicate discrimination in football.

^{Cindy Butts has also been encouraged to join the board [screengrab/YouTube]}

Baroness Warsi, meanwhile, grew up in a family of Pakistani Muslim immigrants living in West Yorkshire, and was a minister in the coalition government just over a decade ago. She was the first Muslim to serve as a cabinet minister. Before that, she was a lawyer with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Anyone joining the ECB board would have to be approved by the nominations committee. The roles require an anticipated commitment of 26 days a year for three years, with the potential for a further three years subject to board and member approval. The remuneration package is understood to be worth around £30,000 a year.

It is unclear if either Butts or Warsi will pursue the opportunity.

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