England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
The governing body of cricket in England, the England and Wales Cricket Board was formed on 1st January 1997. It is responsible for overseeing all levels of cricket taking place in England and Wales. Prior to the formation of ECB, there were three governing body i.e., the National Cricket Association, Test and County Cricket Board, and the Cricket Council.
ECB came into place to form a single governing body to combine the role fulfilled by the above-mentioned entities. The head office of the England and Wales Cricket Board is located at Lord’s cricket ground in north-west London.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is responsible for overseeing the cricketing activities of the teams at all levels of cricket such as England’s National Cricket Team, England’s National Women’s Cricket Team, Physical Disability, Learning Disability, Visually Impaired, and Deaf.
ECB Organized Domestic Tournaments:
Following are three prominent domestic cricket tournaments organized by the England Cricket Board:
1. County Championship: The County Championship is the major first-class tournament held in England and Wales. It is organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The first official county championship tournament was played in 1890. Since 2016, it has been sponsored by Specsavers. Prior to this, the tournament was sponsored by Live Victoria for 14 years.
As many as 18 county clubs participate in the tournament. Yorkshire has been the most successful club with 32 titles to their name.
2. Royal London One-Day Cup: England and Wales Cricket Board also organise a 50-over cricket competition called Royal London One-Day Cup. All 18 county teams participate in the tournament. Royal London One-Day Cup started in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40.
The 18 counties are divided into two groups of 9 teams each. The competition is played in the Round-Robin format in the first phase. The top 3 teams from both the group then qualify for the knockouts.
3. T20 Blast: The T20 Blast is a professional T20 cricket tournament organised in England by The England and Wales Cricket Board. All the first-class counties participate in the tournament. Among all the domestic cricket competitions, the T20 Blast is the most followed cricket tournament in England. Since 2018, the competition is known as the Natwest T20 Blast due to sponsorship reasons.
England and Wales Cricket Board: Structure and Role
ECB CEO: Tom Harrison
The Chief Executive Officer head the ECB. Tom Harrison is currently the CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board. He became the CEO on 14th January 2020. An executive management team directly reports to the CEO and he, in turn, reports to the Chair of ECB- a position which is currently headed by Colin Graves.
There are a total of 41 members of the ECB:
The Chairs of the 18 First-Class Counties
The Chairs of the 21 County Boards in National Counties (formerly the Minor Counties)
The Chair of MCC
The Chair of the National Counties Cricket Association
Responsibilities: The England and Wales Cricket Board is responsible for the preparation and development of the teams that represent England at the highest level in Test and ODI play, The England and Wales Cricket Board recruits the National Selector, Head Coach, and other coaches of ECB employees. Further, ECB employs the English Test Match captain and other centrally contracted players.
England and Wales Cricket Board Headquarters:
The headquarters of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s headquarters is located at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
The England and Wales Cricket Board
Lord’s Cricket Ground
London NW8 8QZ
Tel: +44 (0)20 7432 1200
Fax: +44 (0)20 7286 5583
National Cricket Performance Centre
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leicestershire LE11 3TU
Tel: 01509 228664
ECB Community Coach Education Office
County Cricket Ground
Edgbaston
Birmingham B5 7QX
Tel: 0121 440 1748
ECB Places
County Cricket Ground
Old Trafford
Manchester M16 0PX
Tel: 0161 877 6643
National Teams governed by England and Wales Cricket Board:
Men’s Test Team: The England National Team made their Test debut against Australia in 1877. England has been one of the most formidable teams in world cricket. It received the full member status of ICC on 1909. Currently, the captain of England National Team is Joe Root.
Men’s one-day Team: England played their first-ever one-day international against Australia in the year 1971. England entered their name in the record books after winning the first-ever 50-over World Cup in 2019 in their international cricketing history. Besides, England has also won the 2010 ICC T20 World Cup. Their current white-ball captain is Eoin Morgan.
Women’s Team: England played their debut Test series against Australia in 1934-35. They won the series 2-0. England’s national women’s team won the women’s World Cup four times. The team is currently led by Heather Knight.
Disability Teams: The ECB is committed to facilitating access to the sport for people with disabilities. It aims to have 300 clubs offering disabled provision by 2024. The four teams administered by the ECB are Physical Disability, Learning Disability, Visually Impaired, and Deaf.
The Hundred- New Competition launched by England and Wales Cricket Board:
England and Wales Cricket Board were due to launch a new competition called the Hundred. It has got delayed due to the global spread of coronavirus. The competition is designed to attract families and young cricket fans. Both teams will play 100 balls each and is designed so that people won’t have much confusion in understanding it.
The competition comprises of eight teams, which are based in cities across England and Wales. Following are all the team names:
- Birmingham Phoenix
- London Spirit
- Manchester Originals
- Northern Superchargers
- Oval Invincibles
- Southern Brave
- Trent Rockets
- Welsh Fire
The best players in England, and many of the biggest stars in the world, have signed up for The Hundred. Men’s and women’s teams will represent each of the new outfits – it is claimed that it is unprecedented to run a national competition in a major sport in which the men’s and women’s teams are so closely aligned.
The men’s squads were finalised in October 2019 at an NFL-style draft, the first time such a system had been applied to a major UK competition.
A lot of cricket pundits have criticized the idea, however, the ECB stated that it will attract more audience, which will create more cricket fans across the nation. It has, however, been delayed by one year to 2012 due to the worldwide spread of coronavirus.
