ECB ban Yorkshire's Rafiq for outburst

THE England and Wales Cricket Board have announced Yorkshire's Azeem Rafiq has been suspended until August 26 for making a "personal attack" on England Under-19 team manager John Abrahams in a public statement and bringing the game into disrepute.

The England Under 19s captain has paid the price for an outburst he made on Twitter last week.

The 19-year-old had been left out of this week's second youth Test at Scarborough after reportedly breaking a team curfew during the Northampton clash, in which he made 82 in the first innings but took only two wickets in the match.

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He responded by posting two expletive-laden rants on his Twitter page, in which he called coach Abrahams a "useless ******" and claimed "ECB prove again what incompetent people are working for them".

Rafiq - already suspended by Yorkshire for his comments - has apologised to all concerned but was today hit by a further punishment with the ECB's decision.

The player will now await to see whether he keeps hold of the international captaincy.