Six former Yorkshire players sanctioned for racism by disciplinary panel

Six former Yorkshire County Cricket Club players and coaches on Friday, have been sanctioned by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel for a suspected use of racist language.

According to the ECB, the CDC has today published its decisions in relation to charges brought by the ECB against Yorkshire CCC and a number raof individuals.

As per the latest development, former Yorkshire players Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah were sanctioned for racism.

Ballance, Bresnan, Gale, and Pyrah were fined as well as suspended from coaching and playing cricket for varied lengths of time, whereas Blain and Hoggard were only fined.

Furthermore, all six players have been advised to attend a racism or discrimination education course at their own expense.

The sanctioned individuals are able to appeal the decisions before the end of business on Friday 9 June 2023.

The CDC has also confirmed that the sanction hearing for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, which has admitted four breaches of ECB Directive 3.3, will be held on Tuesday 27 June 2023.

These CDC sanction decisions have been made by an independent panel consisting of Tim O’Gorman (Chair of the CDC), Mark Milliken-Smith KC and Dr Seema Patel.

Earlier, former England captain and renowned commentator Michael Vaughan was cleared of racism charges by the CDC.

In light of the CDC decisions, Michael Vaughan was not found liable for a breach of ECB Directive 3.3, which states: “No such person may conduct themself in a manner or do any act or omission which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any Cricketer or group of Cricketers into disrepute”.

Notably, Michael Vaughan also stepped down from the BBC Commentary Panel amid the racism scandal.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ECB started the investigation after the former Yorkshire CCC player Azeem Rafiq made racism allegations and claimed to have experienced ‘inhuman behaviour’.

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