Racism in cricket: Clare Connor to lead dressing-room review

Clare Connor played more than 100 times for England, captaining on 79 occasions

Clare Connor will lead a review into dressing-room culture in professional men's and women's cricket as part a bid to tackle racism and discrimination.

Connor is the ECB's managing director of women's cricket and a former England captain.

The review will begin in February and run across the 2022 season.

As part of evidence given to a Digital, Culture, Media & Sport select committee in November, former Yorkshire spinner Rafiq said the English game is "institutionally racist".

He also alleged that the term 'Kevin' was once used in the England dressing room to describe non-white people.

The ECB subsequently published a five-point plan - including "12 tangible actions" - and pledged £25m over five years to combat the issues of race and discrimination.

On Tuesday, the governing body issued an update on each of the 12 actions, with "the intention to provide further information about the actions underway across the cricket network".

Connor will work with men's director of cricket Ashley Giles, the 18 first-class counties, the Professional Cricketers' Association and external experts.

The ECB said the review will "examine dressing room culture(s) across elite cricket in England and Wales and make recommendations to address discriminatory attitudes and behaviours".

A new, independently operated whistle-blowing system for complaints of a discriminatory nature will be established by the end of February. A new anti-discrimination unit will be operational by the end of May.

Also included in the action plan is work with each of the first-class counties to review crowd behaviour.

In January, the DCMS committee report said the government should limit public funding for cricket unless there is "continuous, demonstrable progress" on eradicating "deep-seated racism".