Yorkshire have been fined and docked points in two formats over the club’s “extremely serious” misconduct in relation to the racism experienced by former player Azeem Rafiq.
The club were fined £400,000 – £300,000 of which is suspended for two years – and docked 48 County Championship points and four in the T20 Blast from this season’s competitions by an independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel after admitting four charges.
Yorkshire released a statement accepting the sanctions. The punishment means Yorkshire drop from sixth to bottom of Division Two in the Championship, all but ending their promotion chances, while they go from fifth to eighth in the North Group of the already-completed 2023 Blast, a competition where they failed to qualify for the knockout stages.
Rafiq initially spoke out in 2020 about the racism and bullying he experienced across two spells at the county, between 2008 and 2014 and between 2016 and 2018. He also gave harrowing testimony about his experiences to the Culture, Media and Sport parliamentary committee in November 2021.
The first charge the county admitted was the mishandling of their response to an independent report prompted by Rafiq’s allegations.
The second related to what the panel found to be the “deliberate” deletion of emails relevant to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) investigation into Yorkshire, the third to their handling of racism complaints more widely and the fourth to a failure to address the “systemic use” of racist and or discriminatory language over a prolonged period, set in the panel findings as being between 2004 and 2021.
“The overall misconduct in this case must be regarded as extremely serious within both the sporting and wider societal contexts,” the CDC panel’s written reasons confirming the sanctions stated.
“The latter of course is not our concern – but the cricketing context is. The gravity lies not just within the nature of the discrimination itself, but because the message must be made clear to all who administer and who play the professional game, and to all those who administer cricket and who play elsewhere, that such conduct is wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
“Complaint is made by Yorkshire that the sanctions which the ECB has asked the panel to consider are more severe than any sanction the CDC has imposed before. Yorkshire are right – in this panel’s experience this is the most serious case in respect of a first-class county which has been brought before the CDC.”
At a sanctions hearing on June 27, Yorkshire had called for any punishments imposed to be suspended. The ECB had called at the same hearing for the CDC to impose a £500,000 fine on Yorkshire, with £350,000 of it suspended.
ECB lawyer Jane Mulcahy said it would be “wholly unproductive” to try to put Yorkshire out of business, with the club having highlighted a £3.5million cash shortfall to members at their annual general meeting back in March, and the need to repay £14.9m to their creditors the Graves Trust.
The panel recognised the “fragile” nature of the club’s finances, but said it would be an “affront” to those who had suffered as a consequence of the breaches Yorkshire had admitted if there was no financial penalty.
On the same day as the sanctions hearing took place, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) published its damning report which found racism was “entrenched” in the sport.
Regarding the second charge concerning the mass deletion of emails and documents, the panel said it was satisfied the deletions “were both deliberate and were of emails relevant to the investigations being undertaken by both the ECB and internally”.
Yorkshire issued an apology to Rafiq in September 2021, accepting he had been the victim of racial harassment and bullying, but the following month the club said no individual would face disciplinary action over the report’s findings.
The club’s handling of the case led to sponsors deserting in their droves, calls for “heads to roll” at Yorkshire from the then Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and to the ECB withdrawing Yorkshire’s right to host lucrative international matches at Headingley until governance changes were made.
The panel and the ECB recognised the work done to make Yorkshire more inclusive, first by Lord Kamlesh Patel during his time as chair between November 2021 and March of this year, and subsequently by the current leadership.
The panel gave “significant weight” to efforts to remedy past failings but said those changes did not mean sanctions should not be imposed.
“If a company could avoid penalties simply by changing their employees after any wrongdoing, that would undermine the whole premise of corporate responsibility,” the written reasons stated.
“The internal upheavals may amount to some mitigation, albeit brought by the club upon itself, but it cannot render past misconduct incapable of sanction.”
The panel ordered the £100,000 to be paid in equal instalments on January 1, March 1, June 1 and September 1 next year.
Yorkshire accepted the sanctions but said in a statement: “We are disappointed to receive the points deductions which affects players and staff at the club, who were not responsible for the situation.
“They have worked tirelessly on and off the field to rebuild Yorkshire into an inclusive and welcoming club that reflects the communities it serves. Greater clarity over our situation will allow us all now to look ahead.
“There remains much to do, but we have made significant investments to put in place best practice processes and procedures, as well as driving equity, diversity and inclusion through a new framework and taking important steps to improve the matchday experience to encourage greater inclusivity and tackle discrimination.
“We look forward to continued dialogue with the ECB to ensure the financial penalty does not hinder our ongoing commitment to build on the strong foundations that have been laid.”
ECB chief executive Richard Gould added: “These were serious charges relating to racism over a prolonged period.
“There can be no place for racism in our game, and the penalties announced by the Cricket Discipline Commission mark the end of a thorough disciplinary process.
“No one should have to experience what Azeem Rafiq went through in cricket, and we once again thank him for his courage in speaking out.”
Rafiq has been approached for comment.
Ramharack stars with four wickets as West Indies clinch thriller against Pakistan in first T20I
West Indies sealed a thrilling one-run win in the first women's T20I against Pakistan in Karachi. The visitors posted 122 after a disciplined bowling performance from Pakistan, which was spearheaded by Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal. But West Indies' bowlers responded in kind, shackling the Pakistan innings and turning the chase into a nervy one that went to the death. In the end, it would boil down to two runs off the final delivery, but Shamilia Connell beat the bat, and Shemaine Campbelle behind the stumps effected the run-out.
In the first of five T20Is, West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first as they looked to continue their 100% record in Pakistan on this tour. But on a pitch that gripped under the lights, it was Pakistan who started stronger as Iqbal struck of the second ball to send the talismanic captain Hayley Matthews back for a duck. Diana Baig, the most economical of the Pakistan bowlers, trapped Campbelle behind soon after to leave West Indies wobbling at 14 for two. The partnership between Qiana Joseph and Stafanie Taylor that followed did steady the ship, but Pakistan never quite let them get going.
A pair of valuable cameos - both Chedean Nation and Chinelle Henry scored 13 off 9 balls - helped West Indies tip over the run-a-ball mark, but Pakistan would have felt they had a slight edge at the halfway mark.
That advantage was bolstered by a dynamic innings from opener Sidra Ameen, whose 17-ball 23 put Pakistan ahead of the asking rate by the end of the powerplay. But losing both her and Gull Feroza within four balls of each other without adding to the score brought West Indies roaring back into it, and when Karishma Ramharack cleaned up Ayesha Zafar after a stilted innings, the visitors had edged ahead. But Pakistan captain Dar's 24-ball 27 saw Pakistan seize the advantage again as the game balanced on a tightrope throughout the innings.
It all came to a head in a dramatic final over, with Connell bowling. When Najiha Alvi smacked the penultimate ball for an exquisite inside-out cover drive for four, Pakistan appeared, for one final time, to be sneaking home. But a dot ball would follow, and as Pakistan hearts were broken, West Indies' streak held firm.
West Indies 122 for 9 (Joseph 34, Taylor 30, Sana 3-24) beat Pakistan 121 for 8 (Dar 27, Ramharack 4-15) by one run
IPL: Bairstow century gives Kings stunning win over KKR with record run chase
Jonny Bairstow scored an unbeaten century to lead Punjab Kings to a magnificent record Indian Premier League run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders.
England batter Bairstow scored a stunning 108 not out off 48 balls with nine maximums as the Kings somehow chased down a victory target of 262 with eight balls to spare at Eden Gardens.
Bairstow was helped by Shashank Singh, who smashed an unbeaten 68 from 28 deliveries with eight maximums of his own in a remarkable display of hitting.
Hosts KKR thought they had done enough for victory when a fast start from Phil Salt (75 from 37) and Sunil Narine (71 off 32) set them up a huge total of 261-6, but the Kings battled back to earn a famous triumph.
Data Debrief
This astonishing IPL 2024 campaign has already seen Sunrisers Hyderabad twice break the record for the highest innings score in the competition and now the Kings have made more history by recording the biggest chase ever seen in T20 cricket.
This was Bairstow’s second IPL hundred, more than five years after he registered his first while playing for SRH in 2019, and it has given the Kings just their third victory of the season to snap a four-game losing streak.
Reviving cricket's spirit: new JCA president Bennett focused on rebuilding sport from its foundation
“If you really want to kill whatever you do, start from the top going down.”
Those words by newly-elected Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president Dr. Donovan Bennett, just about declared that he is armed with a vision and a no-nonsense approach to not only change the narrative of the country’s governing cricket body, but also to rebuild the sport from the youth level up.
Bennett, who has a passion for cricket, revealed plans for the journey ahead with optimism that he can lead Jamaican cricket into a new era of greatness, after he dethroned Wilford ‘Billy’ Heaven 67 to 30 during the JCA’s Annual General Meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre on Thursday.
Interestingly, Bennett, was a long-serving vice-president to Heaven, who led for over a decade, but said he was forced to challenge for the presidency due to the state of Jamaica’s cricket, and the resounding response from delegates justified his decision.
Though a bit surprised by the margin of victory, Bennett believes his proven track record at the youth level was what convinced delegates to vote in his favour, denying Heaven a fifth-consecutive term.
“I suppose because of my work at the youth level. I must say, I was quite successful for a very long time, and if we're going to rebuild Jamaica's cricket, then we've got to start at the bottom and work our way up. So, I think the voters think that they needed somebody who have a proper knowledge of cricket and how to administer it,” Bennett said.
With well-known administrators Fritz Harris and Dr Akshai Mansingh as his vice presidents, Bennett intends to waste little time rolling out his ambitions for the future of Jamaican cricket. His first order of business was to focus on rebuilding the sport from its foundation –the youth.
“If you start a building and you build from the top downwards, you're going to have problems. There's only one profession where they start from the top and go to the bottom and that is a gravedigger. So, if you really want to kill whatever you do, start from the top. So, we're going to start from the bottom. We are going to start at the Under-13 level, our first task would be to start building from there,” he declared.
“Because if you build the Under-13 and you build it properly, then the following year, you will have Under-15 cricketers, and the following year you'll have Under-17 cricketers, and it goes along like that. There's also another gap in that pyramid. Just below the top of the pyramid, we have an Under-23 gap, when players leave the Under-19 level, sometimes they get lost because there is not an Under-23 level to absorb them and to keep them going in the game. It's not going to happen in one year. It's going to take time, but if you do it properly, before you know it, you will have guys who are winners for you,” Bennett explained.
Bennett's approach to youth development is owing to the fact that the country's current crop of senior players, have had very little success in recent times. As such, he and his team are ready to hit the ground running, with the assistance of others, to steer cricket down the right path.
“I understand the enormity of the task at hand because things are at a very low level right now, but as I told my supporters and my friends that, I can't do it alone, and it's going to take the effort of every cricket loving person to get this thing going. No one of us or no few of us can rebuild cricket in Jamaica. So, it's going to be a process of working with and consulting with all the clubs and parishes. We've got to rebuild that relationship between the clubs and parishes because the JCA is a reflection of the clubs and parishes. So that's where I think we need to go,” he added.
For Bennett, the implementation of plans, which were shelved by his predecessor, will also take priority on his to-do list. However, with the JCA currently strapped for cash, he is hoping to access funds from Cricket West Indies (UWI) to cushion the shortfall.
“There are a lot of good plans lying at the JCA. The problem with the JCA has been implementation and getting the funding in place to get these programmes working. So, we need funding, and we need proper implementation. So, the effort has to be there, and the money has to be there. So let us not fool ourselves. If we don't have money, we can't do anything,” Bennett noted.
He continued: “I think one of the problems that the past administration had is that they didn't get funding because they didn't go and ask for it. We are going to go there and we're going to ask for it, and I'm sure that with the proper presentation and proper plans being drawn to be presented to sponsors, that we will get sponsorship.
“And I have significant goodwill at CWI level. I mean, I represent Jamaica there, and I have tried my best to be respected and understood by the majority of the directors there, so I expect cooperation at that level. Right now, the CWI owes Jamaica a lot of money, and I am sure that we will get that.”
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