A professional county coach has been suspended from cricket for six months by the cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC) after engaging in inappropriate conduct with a player in his care.
The incidents took place in March 2024, during a pre-season tour of an unspecified county’s men’s and women’s teams. The cricket Regulator deemed it a serious offense and the coach lost his role in the professional game.
The ECB issued a letter of charges to the coach on May 22, 2024, citing a breach of rule 3.3 of the 2023 Professional Conduct Regulations which states: “No Participant may behave in any manner, do any act or omit anything in “any time which is inappropriate, or which may be detrimental to the interests of cricket, or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any player or group of cricketers into disrepute.” On July 25, 2024, the technician wrote to the CDC to admit the charge.
Both the identity of the coach (referred to in the Regulator’s published findings as “Coach A”) and the player concerned (“Player 1”) were anonymised, along with that of another player (Player 2) and a senior county employee. who provided witness statements. The CDC insisted on redacting identities to ensure that potentially vulnerable victims or witnesses could not be identified.
Other evidence included a call log showing calls between Coach A and Player 1, a schedule setting out messages between Coach A and Player 1, and the transcript of Coach A’s interview with the Regulator. The CDC did not see the need to reproduce all the facts of the decision since they have been admitted by the respective parties.
Three months of Coach A’s six-month suspension are now considered completed as he has been out of the game since the date of the last incident in March 2024, with the second series of three months suspended for a period of two years from that moment. , depending on the future conduct of the coach. The CDC supported the recommendation that he complete appropriate training on his own and did not impose a fine considering the impact of the financial loss on Coach A and his family.
In a statement released on Tuesday, cricket Regulator acting director Dave Lewis said: “The cricket Regulator seeks to protect all participants from inappropriate sexual behaviour, particularly when it is perpetrated by those in a position of power or trust. “The Regulator recognizes the importance of Participants feel empowered to report these matters and will always seek to protect the identities of victims and vulnerable witnesses.”
The CDC considered mitigating factors in sentencing Coach A, including the fact that he took full responsibility for his actions from the beginning, apologized, expressed remorse, and had “an unblemished record over a long career” before the incidents. . The panel also noted that Trainer A had recently completed all required safeguarding courses and had since obtained an updated DBS check.
