Yorkshire CCC facing international exile over Azeem Rafiq racism probe

The England and Wales Cricket Board took action due to Yorkshire’s “wholly unacceptable” handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism case which is causing “serious damage to the reputation of the game”.

The ECB said that the suspension would remain in place until the club has “clearly demonstrated that it can meet the standards expected of an international venue, ECB member and first-class county”.

The ECB also announced that it was suspending indefinitely from international cricket Gary Ballance, the Yorkshire batsman, who has not played for England since 2017.

Ballance admitted using racial language to Rafiq on nights out drinking when they were Yorkshire team-mates and said that he “deeply regrets” his actions.

The Zimbabwe-born player said that the pair would often trade insults in the form of a “friendly verbal attack” between close friends – a view upheld by an independent investigation into Rafiq’s allegations launched by Yorkshire last year – and criticised the “misleading and selective nature” of some reports.

However, it is Yorkshire’s handling of the investigation, the delays around it and the issues surrounding it, which have prompted the ECB to act, with the governing body having last week launched its own inquiry into the affair some two months after demanding – and then receiving – the full report from Yorkshire from the first investigation.

The club had previously insisted that it was unable to release the full report for legal reasons – it names former players and coaches and was not a judicial process – and instead issued a summary of the report and its recommendations.

Last night, Michael Vaughan, the former Yorkshire batsman and England captain, revealed in his Daily Telegraph column that he is one of the players named in the report.

Referring to a game against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2009, Rafiq alleged that Vaughan had said to him and fellow team-mates Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan: “Too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”

Vaughan wrote: “I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words… I was gobsmacked. I have nothing to hide. The ‘you lot’ comment never happened. Anyone trying to recollect words said 10 years ago will be fallible but I am adamant those words were not used.

“If Rafiq believes something was said at the time to upset him, then that is what he believes.”

Shahzad, the first British-born Asian to play for Yorkshire, has also said he has no memory of the incident.

As players start to question or refute Rafiq’s allegations, the ECB is pressing ahead with a full regulatory investigation as “quickly as possible”.

The governing body threatened further action against Yorkshire by stating that “sanctions including, but not limited to, financial and future major match allocations may be considered at the conclusion of our investigations”.

The ECB executive is also to commission a review of Yorkshire’s governance “to consider whether the existing arrangements are fit for purpose” and said that the club’s “failure in relation to actions and responses to its own report represents a significant breach of its obligations to the game”.

Yorkshire, who have also been summoned to explain themselves before a parliamentary select committee hearing on November 16, have sold more than 60,000 tickets for next summer’s 
international games at Headingley.

They are due to host a Test against New Zealand and a sold-out one-day international against South Africa.

Yorkshire did not respond publicly to the ECB statement prior to an emergency board meeting today in which chairman Roger Hutton is set to come under enormous pressure along with his colleagues.

Hutton, who had led the club’s response to the crisis, is not expected to survive amid suggestions that Colin Graves, the former Yorkshire supremo and ex-England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, could return in his place.

Rafiq, who was with Yorkshire from 2002 to 2014 and then from 2016 to 2018, wrote on Twitter last night: “I note the statement from the ECB.

“I need a little time to reflect on what the ECB has said this evening and the actions they’re proposing to take. I will not be commenting further at this time.”

The ECB statement, which followed an emergency meeting of its board on Thursday afternoon, followed criticism that it has been too slow to bring Yorkshire to account.

“It is clear to the board that YCCC’s handling of the issues raised by Azeem Rafiq is wholly unacceptable and is causing serious damage to the reputation of the game,” said the statement. “The ECB finds this matter abhorrent and against the spirit of cricket and its values.

“There is no place for racism or any form of discrimination in cricket and where it is found, swift action must be taken.

“This matter must be dealt with robustly if the sport is to demonstrate its commitment to truly being a game for everyone.”

Time for truth: Page 20