An initiative encouraging people from black and ethnic minorities to take up cricket in England is to be funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Managed by the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the £450,000 scheme is part of a wider Sports Inclusion programme being rolled out across other major team sports, including rugby union.

A key part of the initiative is to recruit and train 450 new coaches from BME communities, with each new coach given ongoing mentoring for two years.

Among the initiative’s target is to offer 2,000 members of the South Asian community the opportunity to play indoor cricket.

The scheme will provide opportunities for women and disabled people to play cricket, with 700 coaches being trained to better understand the values of behaviours of women and girls in sport. There will also be accessibility audits for disabled access at all 16 first-class county grounds.

ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: “Cricket is an inclusive sport and today’s announcement provides us with a fantastic opportunity to encourage even more people to take up the game.

“The additional funding from EHRC will help us to do more to tap into the enthusiasm for cricket within South Asian communities, who make up nearly one third of our overall participation base.

“Thousands of women and girls have also been drawn into cricket over the past decade with nearly 600 clubs nationwide now offering access to the game and it’s important we invest in further coaching and training to accelerate this still further.”