Michael Vaughan cleared of using racist language at Yorkshire, CDC hearing finds

The former England captain Michael Vaughan has been cleared of using racist and/or discriminatory language and bringing the game into disrepute by the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission. The decision of the three-person panel, which met to hear the case in London this month, was announced on Friday.

The former Yorkshire players Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard and Richard Pyrah – who all withdrew from the disciplinary process – have been found liable for a breach of ECB Directive 3.3 for their alleged use of racist and/or discriminatory language. The sanctions they will face are to be decided at a separate hearing, still to be scheduled. The five have the right to appeal against the decision.

Vaughan described the ECB proceedings as “inappropriate and inadequate”, saying that the process of clearing his name “brought me to the brink of falling out of love with cricket”.

Vaughan was accused of telling a group of four players of Asian descent that “there’s too many of you lot” before a T20 game in June 2009. After a three-day hearing the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission concluded that “having taken into account all the relevant evidence … the panel is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that these words were spoken by Michael Vaughan at the time and in the specific circumstances alleged”, and the case against him was therefore dismissed.

“Particularly with an issue such as this, CDC proceedings were an inappropriate, inadequate and backwards step,” Vaughan wrote on Instagram. “One of the many reasons why I hold that view is because CDC proceedings are adversarial. They invite claim and counterclaim. They invite those involved to accuse each other of untruths or lying … I remain of the