Joe Clarke & Tom Kohler-Cadmore fined over WhatsApp group

Joe Clarke is in his first season with Nottinghamshire, while Tom Kohler-Cadmore joined Yorkshire in 2017

Nottinghamshire's Joe Clarke and Yorkshire's Tom Kohler-Cadmore have both been fined £2,000 for bringing the game into disrepute.

Clarke, 23, and 24-year-old Kohler-Cadmore were named as members of a WhatsApp group which came to light during the trial of former team-mate Alex Hepburn.

Hepburn was found guilty of rape in April and jailed for five years.

Neither Clarke nor Kohler-Cadmore were charged with any criminal offence.

Additionally, there is no suggestion of any criminal wrongdoing by the pair.

At an independent Cricket Discipline Commission hearing on Thursday, the pair admitted the disrepute charge brought against them by the England and Wales Cricket Board. As well as being fined, both players were given an official reprimand.

The panel also ordered the players to attend a suitable course of educational training.

They were suspended for four matches but that is deemed to have already been served because of the games they missed as a result of being withdrawn from the England Lions tour in January.

In the WhatsApp group, Hepburn posted rules of a sexual conquest competition, which he later admitted were "disgusting, horrible and embarrassing".

Hepburn, Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore all played for Worcestershire at the time of Hepburn's offence, which happened in April 2017.

After Thursday's hearing, Clarke said: "I would like to apologise to everyone concerned for my involvement in the WhatsApp group.

"I acknowledge that what I did fell well below the standards expected of a professional sportsman. I am relieved I can now put this chapter behind me."

Kohler-Cadmore added: "I deeply regret my involvement in the WhatsApp group in 2017.

"I fully accept the subsequent punishment and I now want to move forward with the rest of my career and life in a positive manner."