Yorkshire and "a number of individuals" face racism charges

Yorkshire and "a number of individuals" have been charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board following an investigation into how racism allegations made by Azeem Rafiq were handled by the club.

The ECB did not name any of the individuals who have been charged.

The ECB said the charges arose from alleged breaches of ECB directive 3.3 - conduct which 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 - and of its anti-discrimination code.

The governing body said that an independent panel of the Cricket Discipline Commission would now hear the cases in due course, with the expectation that these would take place in September and October.

The ECB said it was standard practice for the CDC panel to publish its decisions and written reasons in full. The governing body said it would be making no further comment.

Rafiq first raised allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020, related to his two spells at Yorkshire from 2008-2014 and 2016-2018.

Yorkshire were criticised for the length of time it took to even publish a summary of their investigation into those allegations. In September 2021 the club finally released a statement saying Rafiq had been the victim of "racial harassment and bullying" and upheld seven of his 43 allegations.

However, the following month the club confirmed nobody would be disciplined.

Political pressure on Yorkshire and the ECB mounted last November when it was reported that a player had admitted to investigators that he had used racial slurs towards Rafiq but that the investigation concluded this was in the context of "banter" between the pair.

The ECB launched its own inquiry and on Wednesday said the