20th July 2023
| Mallory Gray
On Tuesday I chaired my first Board meeting as Interim Chair of Cricket Wales; our first full meeting since our former Chair, Jennifer Owen Adams, was confirmed as a Board member at the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB). This is such an honour for Jenn and it is great for recreational cricket in general and particularly in Wales that her experience will influence decision-making at the highest level.
We welcomed our newest Recreational Game Director, Neil Pearson, to his first Board meeting. His appointment is due to be formally ratified at this year's AGM and we will involve him in Board activities fully until then. More details about Neil can be found at our Who We Are page.
We also welcomed Fay Benningwood, our Relationship Manager at Sport Wales, to her first Board meeting.
The major topic of discussion at the Board was the recent Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report into discrimination in cricket that falls under the governance and auspices of the ECB. I hope you have had the chance to read our CEO's open letter to everyone involved in Welsh Cricket. We know that lots of great work is ongoing to ensure everyone can enjoy and participate in our great game and the Board thanks everyone for their efforts. However, one incident of discrimination is one too many and the Board is determined to support the game to do more. At the meeting we discussed the consultation process that ECB have announced will happen over the next three months to provide an initial response to the ICEC and we will ensure that Welsh Cricket is involved fully in this process.
A number of other important items were discussed; New safeguarding policies were agreed and we also discussed how Cricket Wales could raise additional money from diverse sources, whether public or private, to support the game.
We are also in the process of recruiting a permanent Chair and a new Independent Director the Board. These positions will be advertised in the next few weeks, so if you are interested please keep an eye out for them.
So back to Jenn; We were delighted that she could join us at the end of the meeting so that the Board could formally thank her for all she did for Welsh Cricket during her time as an Independent Director and, more latterly, as Chair; we presented her with a few leaving gifts to show our appreciation. On a personal level, I would like to thank her for all the support, advice and guidance she has given me in the last 2 months as Interim Chair.
Finally, whatever you are doing over the next few weeks, be that playing, officiating, coaching, volunteering or watching I hope the sun shines on your any you enjoy your cricket.
Dr Tim Masters
Interim Chair
Criced Cymru / Cricket Wales