The England and Wales Cricket Board, the single national governing body for cricket in England and Wales, based at Lord's in north-west London.
The England and Wales Cricket Board, or ECB, is the single national governing body for cricket in England and Wales. It looks after the game from elite level to recreational cricket in parks and clubs. It runs England's teams: the men's and women's sides, England Lions, and disability teams for physical disability, learning disability, visually impaired and deaf players. It also oversees domestic competitions including the County Championship, the Vitality Blast, the One Day Cup, and the Hundred, a 100-ball tournament launched in 2021 and aimed at families and younger fans. The ECB is based at Lord's Cricket Ground in north-west London.
The ECB was formed on 1 January 1997. It replaced the Test and County Cricket Board and combined the roles of the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council. The Women's Cricket Association joined in April 1998. It is a company limited by guarantee, which means it can focus on the long-term health of the sport rather than paying out profits, and it is owned by 41 members: the 18 First-Class Counties, 21 county cricket boards, the National Counties Cricket Association and the Marylebone Cricket Club. The ECB's earlier strategy, Inspiring Generations (2020 to 2024), had the vision 'Cricket is a game for me'. A current strategy page exists but was not readable in our sources.
The ECB's headquarters is Lord's. It also runs the National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough University. Because cricket in England and Wales is organised by county, its work reaches every part of the two nations, from the 18 first-class counties to more than 6,500 recreational clubs, according to Wikipedia. It works with charities such as Chance to Shine, which has introduced around 4 million schoolchildren to the sport since 2009, and the MCC Foundation, and its Women's and girls' programme says clubs offering women's and girls' cricket rose from fewer than 100 in 2009 to more than 850.
The ECB's site has an equality, diversity and inclusion section, with a 'Raising the Game' initiative and a South Asian Action Plan from 2018, which includes work such as the Leyton Cricket Hub and non-turf pitches in cities. In January 2025 Sport England confirmed that the ECB remained fully compliant with its Code for Sports Governance. We did not find first-party descriptions of working culture, so we do not describe it.
The ECB employs a range of people. England's centrally contracted players and head coaches get the attention, but the organisation also employs the national selector, performance staff, competition managers, regulation and integrity officers, safeguarding teams, commercial and communications staff, finance and legal teams, and community cricket development roles. Maths, sports science, PE, business and media can all lead here. The ECB's careers section includes a 'Roles in Cricket' guide that explains jobs across the sport.
Website: www.ecb.co.uk
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