Exclusive:MP urges investigation into £1.75m payment from Yorkshire CCC to CEO’s consultancy firm
The payment related to consultancy work on the sale of Yorkshire’s Hundred franchise the Northern Superchargers.
A Labour MP has written to the Cricket Regulator urging it to investigate a payment of £1.75m from Yorkshire CCC to a company controlled by the county’s CEO, Sanjay Patel.
Yorkshire’s 2025 accounts show the payment to SMP73 Ltd for “corporate broker services in connection with the sale of Northern Superchargers Limited”.
This relates to the sale of the club’s Hundred franchise to the Sun Group, which owns the IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad, for £100m.
According to Companies House, Mr Patel is the only employee of SMP73 Ltd, and holds a majority stake.
He was appointed interim CEO of Yorkshire in September 2024, before the appointment was made permanent in October 2025.
Yorkshire said the consultancy work concluded before Mr Patel’s job was made permanent.
Alex Sobel, the Leeds Central and Headingley MP, has written to the Cricket Regulator urging it to “open up the books” of Yorkshire.
He told The Yorkshire Post: "It's absolutely right that the England Cricket Board has started asking questions.
“However, the ECB must not prevaricate given the vast sum involved that ultimately came from the funds of a club owned by the members. An ECB review alone is not enough.
“It's time for the Cricket Regulator to step in and launch its own independent inquiry without delay into the payment to and the dealings surrounding the sale of the Hundred.
“There is an urgent need for transparency over the process that saw such a huge package paid to Mr Patel.
“There must be full disclosure about every aspect of how and why this was agreed, including the events leading up to the sale of the Northern Superchargers Hundred Franchise
“The club must open up the books. Yorkshire members deserve nothing less than full transparency.”
Mr Patel was involved with setting up the Hundred when he worked for the ECB, and was part of a small group of executives who received a combined bonus of £2.1m there in 2021.
It comes as Yorkshire’s chair Colin Graves is pushing ahead with demutualisation plans, which he says will prevent future financial mismanagement.
This would turn the county from a members’ club into a private company owned by shareholders.
Yorkshire received £60m from the Northern Superchargers sale. A spokesperson said the payment to SMP73 Ltd was a commission triggered by the size of this sale.
They said: “The commission arrangement was referred by the board to an appropriate sub-committee for approval, in accordance with the Club’s governance processes and is disclosed as required in the Club’s 2025 Annual Report and Accounts.
“The consultancy arrangement was separate from, and concluded after Sanjay Patel's appointment as a non-executive director in February 2024 and before his appointment as the Club’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2025.
“We will always engage openly and transparently with both the ECB and the Cricket Regulator should they have any questions.”