ECB ask for Azeem Rafiq report as Yorkshire consider response to year-long racism investigation

The club has now received the findings after a year-long investigation conducted on its behalf by the law firm Squire Patton Boggs.

However, it is understood that Yorkshire firstly want to establish what can legally be disclosed before publicly presenting the contents of the findings, which have been put together by a panel that included prominent members of the British-Asian community.

A club statement is expected imminently, but it remains unclear whether Rafiq’s central claim of institutional racism – in other words, that Yorkshire operate along demonstrably racist lines as a matter of club policy – has been, or ever could be, upheld.

Rafiq, who claimed that the racism he experienced at the club for which he played between 2008 and 2018 drove him to the brink of suicide, today accused Yorkshire of “trying to bury” the report and called on the England and Wales Cricket Board and politicians to intervene.

Ian Watmore, the ECB chairman, tonight issued this statement on behalf of the governing body: “We respect the independent process behind the review, and the club’s legal responsibilities to all parties.

“We also understand the frustration at the length of time this investigation has taken.

“Now that the club has a full copy of the report, we have today written to Yorkshire to formally request a copy, together with a timeline for publication.

“It has taken considerable courage for Azeem Rafiq to speak out, and it is right that his experiences should have been thoroughly investigated.

“We now look forward to receiving a copy of the report promptly to enable us to fulfil our role as the ultimate regulator of the game.”

Rafiq, 30, has cranked up the pressure tirelessly on social media in recent days, using such hashtags as #ReleaseTheReport and #EnoughIsEnough. Yorkshire, for their part, have kept their counsel throughout.

It is no secret that Yorkshire and Rafiq had a fractious relationship in any case before the racist allegations surfaced last August, and it seems unlikely that the findings – whatever they are – will completely draw a line under the affair.

Yorkshire’s Second XI Championship match against Derbyshire at Weetwood was abandoned midway through after a Yorkshire player tested positive for coronavirus.

The unnamed player returned a positive lateral flow test, and the decision was taken to abandon the match as a draw.

Mark Stoneman, who played four times on loan for Yorkshire this season in the T20 Blast, has joined Middlesex from Surrey on a three-year deal.

Stoneman, who hit 58 runs in his four Yorkshire innings, 50 of them on debut against Northants at Headingley, will play for Middlesex on loan for the rest of the summer before the three-year deal officially begins.

The 34-year-old, who joined Surrey from Durham for 2017, hit 117 against his former club in Surrey’s Royal London Cup semi-final defeat at the Riverside on Tuesday.