Botham accused of report ‘untruths’

The author of a report on racism and elitism in cricket has accused Lord Ian Botham of “untruths” and said English cricket chiefs should have had the “backbone” to criticise him for it.

Former England all-rounder Botham, who is now the chairman of Durham, said last year that he was not asked for his thoughts before the publication of a report which found cricket to be riddled with racism, sexism and classbased discrimination.

The 68-year-old described the 300-page report as “nonsense” and said he threw his copy on the floor after reading it.

However, Cindy Butts, the chairwoman of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) that produced the report, wrote in a letter to The Times that Botham was twice given an opportunity to contribute but failed to do so.

Speaking this week to MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee, she said: “I wrote to the editor of The Times, who ran an article following his (Botham’s) comments that he made during a podcast where he said that he read the report, he thought it was a load of rubbish and threw it on the floor. He also said nobody had consulted him and no one he knew had spoken to us (the ICEC). I felt it was important to correct the record on a number of different fronts.”

The report, commissioned by the ECB in response to the racism scandal at Yorkshire and the allegations made by Azeem Rafiq, the county’s former player, was published in June last year.

“Firstly, we did invite Lord Botham to give evidence to us,” Butts told MPs. “He didn’t respond. The county which he chairs, Durham, contributed to our call for written evidence and we thank them for that.

“There are a number of untruths that he spoke about the report.”