Headingley allowed to host England matches after ECB lifts suspension

Yorkshire took an important step on the road to staging international matches again when the England and Wales Cricket Board lifted its Headingley suspension on Friday.

The ECB has been impressed by the work done to change the culture of the club since the appointment of new chair Lord Kamlesh Patel in November and announced it had conditionally reversed its decision to strip the county of hosting privileges over their handling of racism and bullying allegations by former player Azeem Rafiq. If Yorkshire meet two further conditions by the end of March, the county will be able to host the third Test against New Zealand in June and July’s one-day international against South Africa.

The news was welcomed by Rafiq who said the ECB had made the “correct decision” but Yorkshire still need to comply with the ECB’s two outstanding demands which call for the club to resolve “issues relating to rules changes and decisions at the club which have been subject to procedural flaws”, along with the removal of Yorkshire board veto and observer powers held by the family trust of former chair Colin Graves.

The first demand relates to the late-notice cancellation of an extraordinary general meeting of members due to take place last week, owing to a failure by the previous leadership to file rule changes with the Financial Conduct Authority. The role of the Graves Trust – a major creditor of the club which is controlled by the family of former chairman Colin Graves – has been under scrutiny since another ex-chair, Roger Hutton, said it had vetoed his attempt to remove former chief executive Mark Arthur and former director of cricket Martyn Moxon over their response to the Rafiq investigation.

Rafiq said: “This is the correct decision by the