Days following the discharge of the Unbiased Fee for Fairness in Cricket report, which highlighted widespread discrimination inside English cricket, England Ladies’s captain Heather Knight has come ahead with a surprising revelation about her early days within the sport. Knight disclosed an incident of sexism she confronted when somebody requested her if she did the ironing work for males after apply, shedding gentle on the lengthy street forward for English cricket in reaching equality within the sport.

Talking on the eve of England’s first T20I towards Australia within the Ladies’s Ashes, Knight expressed her issues concerning the progress of equality in cricket. Recalling her expertise, she mentioned, “I began out enjoying males’s membership cricket and being requested: ‘Do you do the ironing for the boys while you’re completed?’. Tomorrow I’ll lead my facet out in entrance of a close to full-house with 85,000 tickets offered for the entire sequence.”

Whereas acknowledging the numerous developments cricket has made, Knight emphasised that there’s nonetheless a lot work to be completed to handle the prevailing inequalities throughout the sport. As a collective group of England ladies cricketers, they strongly advocate for change and aspire to play a significant position in pushing the sport ahead in direction of equality.

“Cricket has come very far however it’s additionally received an extended option to go. As a gaggle of England ladies cricketers we really feel actually strongly about this. We need to be a key a part of that in pushing the sport ahead,” she added.

The impartial report on the tradition of England cricket, which uncovered racism, class-based discrimination, elitism, and sexism deeply rooted throughout the sport, serves as a backdrop to Knight’s revelations. In accordance with the report, half of the respondents claimed to have skilled discrimination throughout the previous 5 years. Shockingly, the statistics revealed that 87% of gamers of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage, 82% of Indian heritage gamers, and 75% of black gamers reported cases of discrimination.

The findings of the report spotlight the pressing want for transformative actions and reforms inside English cricket. The revelations made by Knight and the broader points raised by the impartial fee reveal the crucial for systemic modifications to foster a extra inclusive and equitable setting throughout the sport.

This text was first printed at WomenCricket.com, a Cricket Instances firm.