Yorkshire admit liability on racism charges as Richard Pyrah pulls out of process

Yorkshire has admitted to four ECB charges relating to allegations of institutional racism at the club, and will not now be required to attend next month's Cricket Discipline Commission hearings in London. However, a fifth former player has now withdrawn his co-operation from the process.

Richard Pyrah, the club's former player and bowling coach, has joined Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan and John Blain in pulling out of the hearings, following the lead of the club's former captain and head coach, Andrew Gale, who confirmed in June last year that he would not be taking part in what he described as a "tainted process".

The five players' cases will therefore be heard in absentia, with the ECB confirming that the hearings will take place in London between March 1 and 9.

A sixth player, Gary Ballance - the former Yorkshire and England batter who is currently making his Test debut for Zimbabwe - had previously admitted to the use of racially discriminatory language and is not therefore required to appear before the CDC panel.

As a result, the only player expected to appear in person is Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, who hopes to clear his name after being accused by his then-Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq of telling a group of Asian players, ahead of a T20 fixture in 2009, that "there are too many of you lot" and "we need to do something about it".

In a press release, the ECB confirmed that Yorkshire had "admitted liability in response to four amended charges, including a failure to address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over a prolonged period and a failure to take adequate action in respect of allegations of racist and/or discriminatory behaviour".

All parties have been charged with breaches of ECB Directive 3.3, in a period spanning 2004 to 2021. Yorkshire's previous position on the matter had been that it would "need the co-operation of those in position during this time in order to fully consider and respond to the matters raised".

However, the club has now admitted to a series of failings that its co-chair, Lord Kamlesh Patel, said was "an important step forward … as part of its journey to learn from the past."

In an open letter to its membership from Lord Patel and his fellow co-chair, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Yorkshire explained that the four charges were an amendment from the six originally levelled by the ECB, and allowed the club to admit liability on specific issues, rather than face the prospect of defending itself on specific points at the CDC hearing.

"It has taken some time to reach this position with the ECB, having proceeded cautiously in the best interests of the club, but we are pleased to have now resolved liability," the letter read. "The amended charges have allowed the club to admit these and negotiate the withdrawal of other charges. This saves the Club the further time and costs of arguing liability at the final hearing listed for 1-9 March 2023."

Lord Patel added in a statement: "Since becoming Chair it has been clear that we needed to accept and take accountability as a club for the cultural issues which allowed racist and discriminatory behaviour to go unchallenged.

"We should be proud of the work that has been done to build new foundations for a club whose ambition is to become truly welcome to all. As I leave the position as Chair, it is fundamental that the recently installed Board and leadership team at the club continue on this mission and I know that they are as committed as I have been to bring Yorkshire back to where it should be, on and off the pitch".

The independent CDC Panel comprises of Tim O'Gorman (Chair), Mark Milliken-Smith KC and Dr Seema Patel. The March hearing will concern issues of liability, with any sanction arising to be dealt with at a later date.

Responding to the latest developments, Rafiq said: "I want to thank both Yorkshire and Gary for doing the right thing and wish them all the best for the future."