A LONG-AWAITED report has laid bare the extent of discrimination in cricket, leaving the sport’s leaders with a huge job on their hands to reform structures and change attitudes.

The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report, ‘Holding Up A Mirror To Cricket’, which was published on Tuesday, received evidence from more than 4,000 respondents and has taken a forensic look at discrimination within the game.

Read more: Azeem Rafiq praises ‘courage’ of respondents to ICEC report

The report dismissed the notion that the racism cases already in the public domain are isolated incidents – racism is “entrenched”, it said. Women are “subordinate” to men within cricket and treated as second-class citizens, which the report says extends to how players are paid, and that they routinely experience sexism and misogyny.

Little or no action has been taken to address class barriers within the sport, which is described as “elitist and exclusionary” by the report. Complaints processes were found to be confusing and overly defensive, offering little support to victims or those accused of discrimination.

The ECB’s dual role as the sport’s promoter and regulator is also questioned, with the report saying it creates “the potential for conflicts of interest” within a sport it branded “elitist and exclusionary”.

It calls for equal working conditions between men and women and an equalisation of international match fees with immediate effect, and overall equal average pay at domestic level by 2029 and at international level by 2030.

In all there are 44 recommendations, with the first being a call for an unreserved apology from the ECB, something the governing body immediately provided.

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For a long time the finances in cricket have been in a perilous state, but that doesn't mean there can't be simple, immediate changes that address the concerns raised in the report. Why, for example, does the annual Eton v Harrow take place at Lords, but England's women have never played a test match at the so-called home of cricket?

As England men's captain Ben Stokes said yesterday, cricket is a game that needs to celebrate diversity on all fronts because without diversity, this game would not be where it is at today.

The depth of the problems are laid bare over more than 300 pages in a paper which casts a grim shadow over preparations for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s – a venue known as the home of cricket but one that is also symbolic of the game’s relationship with privilege.

Stokes in many ways represents the opposite of that. Born on the other side of the world and educated in a Cumbrian comprehensive school, his ascent to one of the most prestigious sporting offices in the country constitutes a breaking of the traditional ‘future England captain’ mould, a point he was clear to emphasise as he read a heartfelt and personally prepared statement.

But the stark reality is, right now, cricket is not a game for everyone and this needs to change immediately.