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Ex-regional journalist hits out at ‘diversity imbalance’ in cricket journalism

Sam MorsheadA former regional journalist has called for greater diversity in cricket journalism after launching a new project with a newspaper catering for Britain’s black community.

Sam Morshead, who used to be chief sports writer at the Swindon Advertiser, has joined forces with The Voice in his role as digital editor at The Cricketer magazine.

The partnership will see the two titles share content and ideas during the behind closed doors Test series between England and the West Indies, which begins in Southampton today.

Sam, pictured, came up with the idea for the partnership as a positive response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

He said: “The Cricketer wholly supports the racial equality principle which sits at the heart of the message that black lives matter.

“As an industry, cricket journalism can and should do more to represent our diverse community: both in terms of readership and employment opportunities.

“In teaming up with The Voice, we hope to start to address the first of these issues – giving a new audience an insight into our coverage of the England-West Indies series and beyond.

“We aim to learn more about how different audiences consume cricket, and what more can be done to engage them with our game.

“This is a small first step of our active plan to do our bit to address the diversity imbalance within our sport and our industry.”

The Voice will syndicate The Cricketer’s coverage over the course of the summer, as well as collaborating on a series of podcasts and vodcasts.

Rodney Hinds, sports editor at The Voice, said: “All credit to Sam Morshead at The Cricketer. He reached out and I felt a genuine appetite to unite and share.

“As a sports fan and professional, I have read The Cricketer for decades. Now to be able to work with the title is an exciting prospect.

“Cricket remains an integral part of our community and readership and to be able to enhance our coverage of the Test series is fantastic.”