Yorkshire racism scandal: Documents relating to claims were deleted by county

Azeem Rafiq first detailed allegations of racism at Yorkshire in September 2020

Yorkshire have admitted documents about racism allegations against the club were deleted under a previous regime.

The county said the destruction of documents occurred before outgoing chairman Lord Patel took over but would not speculate on who was responsible.

A Cricket Discipline Commission hearing is set to begin in London on Wednesday.

The club will not attend after pleading guilty to four England and Wales Cricket Board amended charges over allegations by ex-player Azeem Rafiq.

Yorkshire have now confirmed one of these charges of bringing the game into disrepute is related to the deletion or destruction of documents.

Patel, who will step down at the club's next annual general meeting in March, was appointed in November 2021 after Roger Hutton resigned over Yorkshire's response to the Rafiq racism scandal.

"After 5 November 2021, it was discovered that emails and documents, both held electronically by the club and in paper copy, had been irretrievably deleted from both servers and laptops and otherwise destroyed," said Yorkshire in a statement.

"After a thorough independent investigation it was established that the deletion and destruction of documents date from a time period prior to the appointment of Lord Patel and relate to the allegations of racism and the club's response to those allegations.

"The club is not prepared to conjecture publicly as to why this occurred, who was responsible or the motivation for doing so."

The statement added that the ECB was "also informed of the position", which led to the charge on the basis that deleting or destroying such documents may be "prejudicial to the interests of cricket" or bring the game into disrepute.

The club admitted the charge because there was "no viable defence in these circumstances".

Yorkshire also told members no personal data was compromised during the deletion of documents.

The deletion of emails relating to claims of racism against Yorkshire was first reported by The Cricketer in June last year.

The Cricket Discipline Commission hearing will run from 1-9 March, although the only charged individual still set to appear is former England captain Michael Vaughan.

Former Yorkshire captain and coach Andrew Gale, former England bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, and former Yorkshire players and coaches Richard Pyrah and John Blain have all withdrawn from the process.

Ex-Yorkshire and England batter Gary Ballance, who now represents Zimbabwe, has admitted liability in response to his charge and will also not participate.

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