Yorkshire reschedule meeting in bid for internationals to return to Headingley

Yorkshire have rescheduled a crucial members’ meeting for March 14 which could pave the way for international cricket to return to Headingley this summer.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced last Friday that hosting rights had been conditionally restored to the county, and it is intended that the extraordinary general meeting will seek to remove the final obstacles.

The ECB initially stripped Yorkshire of the right to stage internationals – a crucial source of income – last November in response to the county’s handling of racism allegations from former player Azeem Rafiq, which also led to sponsors deserting the club in droves.

Yorkshire chair Lord Patel wrote to members this week to say that sufficient signatures had been gathered to requisition a new EGM. He said the intention of the meeting was to “end the potential paralysis” of the county’s board by confirming both his appointment and that of chief executive Paul Hudson and to confirm the validity of decisions taken by the board since November 2021.

The meeting is also expected to vote on rule changes allowing up to eight non-members to join the board as independent non-executive directors, to set three-year default term limits for board members and, crucially, to remove the Colin Graves Trust’s veto over board appointments and rule amendments.

The ECB explicitly referenced the removal of the Trust’s powers as a condition of restoring international cricket to Headingley in its statement last Friday, and Lord Patel says the Trust has been supportive of the move.

His predecessor, Roger Hutton, told MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee last November that the Trust – a major creditor of the county – had used its veto to prevent him removing