Yorkshire CCC confirm nearly half of racism complaints still under investigation

The hotline was set up by former club chair Lord Kamlesh Patel when he was appointed in November 2021, amid the furore over the club’s handling of the racism and bullying experienced by their former player Azeem Rafiq.

Yorkshire released an update regarding the hotline on Monday and said that of 55 complaints that fell within the line’s terms of reference, 23 were being investigated with a further 32 either resolved, redirected or voluntarily discontinued.

The operation of the hotline and investigations arising from it are being handled by a team led by Mohinderpal Sethi KC.

Yorkshire said they were co-operating with the Sethi team on their investigations, which had included a forensic IT search of Yorkshire’s computer systems.

Yorkshire’s statement said the Sethi team were now primarily engaged in “final determinations” related to the complaints they were investigating.

Yorkshire chief executive Stephen Vaughan revealed at the club’s annual general meeting on Friday that the hotline would be kept open “for the foreseeable future” but that an alternative solution would need to be found, owing to the “significant” cost of operating it.

Yorkshire’s 2022 annual report showed the cost of the helpline, governance and listening reviews and the county’s equality, diversity and inclusion plan was more than £700,000 in total across 2021 and 2022.

The Cricket Discipline Commission could return decisions on liability in the cases of six former Yorkshire staff, including ex-England captain Michael Vaughan, this week. Panel chair Tim O’Gorman said when the public section of the hearing into allegations by Rafiq concluded on March 7 that he hoped to produce an outcome by the end of the month.

Yorkshire have already admitted four charges in the case, including a failure to address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over a prolonged period. Gary Ballance also admitted a charge of using such language.

Elsewhere, Ireland suffered defeat in their first T20 international against Bangladesh after falling to a 22-run defeat on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. Bangladesh finished on 207-5 and Ireland scrambled to chase 104 in eight overs set by DLS.