Dawid Malan and Yorkshire CCC playing the waiting game in long-running saga

On Tuesday, a sanctions hearing of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) will consider recommendations for punishment after Yorkshire admitted to four charges in connection with the scandal.

Penalties, which may not be confirmed until later, are expected to be a fine and/or points deductions in a situation that remains mired in confusion and controversy.

For the Yorkshire players and coaches, especially, it has been difficult with this Sword of Damocles hanging over the club now for a season-and-a-half.

It is why a side chasing promotion to the Championship First Division, albeit with much to do after one win in six games, is eager for clarity and the prospect, finally, of some light at the end of the tunnel.

“I think we’re just doing the waiting game,” said Dawid Malan, the Yorkshire and England batsman, as the club prepared to take on Gloucestershire in the Championship at Headingley from Sunday.

“You hear so many things - that we’re going to get deducted points, we’re going to get fined instead of points - I just think it’s about having the clarity to know where we are.

“It’s incredibly tough, in the middle of a season, to suddenly say you’re now getting deducted 10, 20, 30 points, whatever, if that happens.

“It becomes quite demoralising, but you understand why it’s done, and hopefully it will be sorted out and we will see where we stand with that.”

Malan, who joined Yorkshire in late 2019, is too diplomatic to say that the situation is unacceptable, which it is on so many levels as the wheels of this particular justice, or indeed injustice, have turned at snail’s pace.

If there must be a penalty, then let it be a suspended points sanction and no fine for a club that has been ripped apart, not least financially, and for which the current players/coaches do not deserve censure.

Clearly some sort of message will be sent, but the idea that it has not already been assimilated is absurd. Yorkshire must be allowed to rebuild, on and off the field, and anyone who cites the recent mistreatment of Durham might do well to remember the verity that two wrongs do not make a right.

“It would have been great had it all been done at the beginning of the year, but you understand how things work and nothing ever works smoothly in situations like this,” added Malan.

“I guess, when it comes to trying to win promotion, it will all depend as well on how many points we might get deducted, and I think that’s always something that the boys have had one eye on.

“That’s really tough, not knowing whether all the hard work is going to be taken away to some extent. But, if we can keep winning games of cricket, then it leaves it in our hands to see what we can do.”

Malan played his part in helping Yorkshire win their first game of Championship cricket not only of this season, but also for 14 long months with a first innings hundred in the last game at Derbyshire.

The left-hander’s 106 at Chesterfield helped Yorkshire to a three-wicket triumph that left them just 31 points behind second-placed Sussex with a game in hand, emphasising that promotion is very much still in Yorkshire’s grasp if they can keep performing and if the CDC shows commonsense.

“It was a good win at Chesterfield,” said Malan. “I know we hadn’t won a lot of games up until then, but we’d actually been in positions to win games. We were in a position to win against Leicester, against Sussex, and if you add those two on we’d be in a good position overall.

“I know you can’t do ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, but I don’t think we’ve played as bad cricket as what the results have made it out to be. We just haven’t managed to win those pressure situations.”

One man who should help, for the next four games at least, is Mark Steketee, the Australian pace bowler signed on a short-term overseas deal.

Steketee will debut on Sunday and be available for the matches against Worcestershire at New Road, Sussex at Headingley and Durham at Scarborough.

Ottis Gibson, the Yorkshire head coach, commented: “The thing for us which is difficult is we’ve lost two bowlers - Milnes and Edwards (to injury) and we’re managing ‘Tommo’ (Jordan Thompson).

“Tommo’s carrying an ankle (injury), and we just felt like we needed an extra body.

"There’s a lot of work put on Coad and Fisher, and we just felt like they needed some help.

“Therefore, we’ve gone out and got Steketee for four games and, hopefully, he can bring some energy and pace to our attack and help us win games.”

Commenting on the 29-year-old’s qualities, Gibson said: “He’s got pace, good control and can swing the ball away. The sort of wickets we’ve been playing on at Headingley might suit him as well.

“We’ve not lost sight of what we want to do in terms of promotion, and so on, and he’s just someone, an overseas player, who can hopefully help us to achieve our goals.”