‘We’re not gonna be woke’: Middlesex chief risks ECB wrath over new diversity rules Middlesex’s chief executive, Andrew Cornish, has risked antagonising the England and Wales Cricket Board by appearing to criticise a central element of the counties’ new diversity rules that come into force on Saturday.
The ECB’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion action plan 2025-28, which was published last October, states: “In the new County Partnership Agreement there are enhanced standards, including a requirement of 40% minimum of each gender, and updated ethnic diversity targets to reflect the 2021 UK census.
In reply Cornish said: “Our board and our committees are incredibly diverse … and meet all the diversity standards that we need,” although that will not be case under the terms of the new ECB agreement with the counties.
At a club forum last week Cornish told Middlesex members “we’re not gonna be woke and just do political correctness” before criticising “token” appointments based on “gender or ethnicity”.
The new County Partnership Agreement beginning includes enhanced targets for diversity and gender parity, most notably the stipulation that 40% of appointments to county boards and governance committees must be female.
