English cricket boss ‘very motivated’ to tackle racism crisis

Tom Harrison claimed he had been given a mandate to lead cricket out of its racism crisis, following an emergency summit of the game's leading decision-makers.

Harrison entered yesterday’s “all-game” meeting at the Kia Oval facing rising scrutiny over his position as chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board but emerged insisting he had the renewed support to front a programme of measures that will be announced next week.

There has been frustration over the ECB'S glacial, handsoff approach to Azeem Rafiq's claims of institutional racism during his time at Yorkshire and Harrison's unimpressive appearance in front of a parliamentary select committee this week led to further disquiet.

Against the backdrop of reports that he may be called to resign, Harrison met representatives of the 18 first-class counties, as well as delegations from the Professional Cricketers' Association, MCC, national counties and recreational game and left with his leadership intact.

"I received the backing of the game today, absolutely," he told Sky News as he left the stadium.

"I'm determined to lead this change through cricket. I feel passionately about this issue. It's something I feel to my core. I've been trying to drive an inclusive and diverse sport from the moment I arrived as chief executive in 2015. I feel very motivated and very supported to make sure that change happens in the game.

"This is just the first step. I am not suggesting this is the silver bullet response or answer, it is an urgent and immediate response to the issues we have face."

Harrison was flanked by Surrey's influential chair Richard Thompson, who offered his backing.

Asked if he felt Harrison was still the right man to pursue a new chapter for the sport, he said: "Yes I do. Cricket needs leadership at the moment, it doesn't need a vacuum.

"We need to win the trust back of those mums that might be thinking about whether cricket is the right sport for their children, and the dads. Trust is everything now and it starts today. From here I think the process will move very quickly so we can start to show our actions do speak louder than our words."