ECB sets out case against Hoggard and attacks ‘misrepresentations’ of accused

England’s Ashes-winning bowler Matthew Hoggard was accused of racist and discriminatory language as the long-awaited Cricket Disciplinary Commission hearing into Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of racism in Yorkshire cricket began on Wednesday.

Setting out the England and Wales Cricket Board’s case against Hoggard, Jane Mulcahy KC said that he had used racist and/or discriminatory language during the 2008 cricket season including “You Pakis are all the same” and “you lot sit over there” when referring to Rafiq and other Asian players in the Yorkshire squad.

The ECB also alleged that Rafiq was referred to as “Rafa the Kaffir” during the 2008 season and that Hoggard called another player at the club a “token black man” and/or TBM.

Hoggard is one of six Yorkshire players and staff charged under ECB directive 3.3, which governs conduct that is improper or which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer into disrepute.

Five of those – Hoggard, John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah – decided last month not to engage any further in the ECB disciplinary process, while the former England captain Michael Vaughan will contest the charges against him at the CDC later this week.

Outlining the ECB’s case against Hoggard, Mulcahy said that the bowler had admitted to using the P-word and “Token Black Man” but denied any racist or discriminatory intent.

Hoggard had also admitted to using the term “Rafa the Kaffir” but denied that he had created it, or that it carried a racist meaning. Instead, he claimed that it was used to denote a person of Muslim faith who did not practise the religion to strict conformity.

But that explanation was dismissed by Mulcahy,