mad
Member
Thanks for those links. All those permutations over the final 2-3 days. Championship cricket is still the best. I've enjoyed my trips to Taunton over the years
Good lord that was awful from start to finish. Christ what are they gonna do to the county game now on the back of that? Heaven knows but it is a worry. Maybe a reset but I worry there'll be further erosion and damage done to reinforce the madness of the last 5 to 10 years poor scheduling
Chris Wright tweeted this morning the draft fixtures ARE out and will be published next week
The initial BBC report may have implied YCCC were getting away without sanction but reports in today's media (Times article) clarify that fixture publication could no longer be delayed due to frustration from counties but equally sanctions on YCCC couldn't be decided until the CDP had released their findings. Equally the DCMS will be releasing their findings this Friday
Hopefully we get a trip to Scarborough then but Durham for one won't be at all happy if all Yorkshire's punishment ends up being is banned from hosting international cricket between December and March
Colwyn Bay CC suggesting draft fixture list next week at the earliest but it won't be released to joe public until well after the Hobart Test according to The Cricketer.
https://www.colwynbaycricketclub.co.uk/first-class-match-2021/
http://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/countycricket/wait_goes_on_domestic_schedule_2022_fixtures_not_expected_until_after_mens_ashes.html
Several counties have been frustrated by the delay, which is believed to relate to both the new complexities of the women's fixture list in 2022 - with international, Hundred and regional schedules having to fit around the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham - and the situation at Yorkshire.
Worcestershire chair Fanos Hira said he expected the fixtures to be available in the "next two to three weeks"
"Hopefully that will help members in terms of booking hotels and such for away fixtures," he said. "It is frustrating and we hope it gets resolved quite quickly."five rounds of County Championship fixtures will be played in June and July -
Which we got wind about in December
The ECB are also awaiting the findings of the CDC (Cricket Disciplinary Commission) which will hopefully be released back end of January to determine Yorkshire's penalty for their failings as a club during 2018-2021 over the Azeem Rafiq affair. I should imagine the ECB / counties will want this settled before issuing publicly any fixtures schedules to their members
McGrath is a surprise. Would he really leave Essex? He was also there around the time of some of the racism
From the looks of things it doesn't look like 16 full time appointments have come to an end. Probably 5 or 6 like that with the remainder on rolling or zero hours contracts that conveniently come to an end - e.g. the sub-contracted physio department kinda like a school or college all of a sudden deciding to source their agency catering or supply teaching staff from a different employer next year
It is clearly a move designed to appease the ECB and help get DCMS off the ECB's back this which is why it had to be done quickly. DCMS had threatened the games governing body with a regulator coming in so I guess this is the first step towards trying to ensure that doesn't come to pass. Also to convince sponsors who won't touch Yorkshire with a barge pole unless drastic measures have been taken
If as is almost certain, Yorkshire are relegated to Div 2 and lose some of their higher earning players, they will need fresh coaching and admin staff and they'll be able to cope with this upheaval better in Div 2 anyway - I reckon it'll be good for them to start with a clean slate
Will be quite a culture shock going to Headingley next season. Some of the more reactionary died in the wool stuck in the 1970's tutting fuddy duddies will be gone pretty sharpish. They are bound to have groups of visitors in from local schools - in the aim of reviving (or more truthfully, generating from scratch) interest in the county side among the local Leeds/Bradford population
Exactly which is why it has been so necessary for that club to completely remove what had gone on before. It had previously discriminated and ought not do so going forwards is a point well worth restating.
Several of the coaches I imagine will re-apply for roles in due course. Those with less baggage will have more of a chance within the new set up. Yorkshire CCC have a particularly difficult job now of attracting talent from a wide demograohic within and beyond their county boundaries to want to play for, work with and watch them, Many have clearly previously been put off from working at for the club at Headingley. Hopefully that mindset is ending quickly now. About time too.
If I were Warks I'd ignore their first team and look at trying to pick off some of Tykes better young players who might end up getting released as a result of all this
If the incumbents were re-selected it certainly wouldn't be down to merit so it seems a moot point.
I guess they will get lots of help from the ECB/PCA with this as they may well be restarting as an academy side in CC Div 2 which seems almost certain. Plus there will probably be an exodus of their more senior players to other counties (mainly Surrey Hants or Notts) or to a year traipsing around the T20/T10/T1 circus
According to the Telegraph a decision will be made as to whether Yorkshire are relegated to Division Two in exchange for getting their international matches back for 2022 as loss of the latter would be more catastrophic for the club.
Also 3 rounds of county championship matches in July before that break for the Hundred & RL Cup which is pushed back to the end of July into August. Bham Phoenix & Bears RL matches will be away for the first week + of that as the Commonwealth Games will be in progress
This is commendable initial work from the club and both Bressy now and Recordo over the last 8 years. We're perhaps fortunate that in this instance Warks have a lad who was prepared to speak up at the time (2013) as well as work with the club now.
I hope other current cricket players will now feel confident about speaking like this as it'll help point towards a viable future for the sport. He broke through at Warwicks to enjoy a short professional career but how many players as talented (or more) were held back by the club having this reputation in the area and either moved away or gave up the game?
His experiences coming through age group and club cricket in the area is informative if that has been and is still today the view of young cricket players in the Birmingham area - that it represents a class issue where you need to go to the right private schools in the right leafy areas of the West Midlands or have the right parental connections to get much of a look in and where race intersects quite abruptly - for the good of the game these barriers need tearing down I would hope there is an enormous appetite to do that at Warwicks when there clearly was at least some resistance to acknowledge these issues previously and perhaps even efforts to entrench them within Yorkshire.
Intellingent discussion re: leadership from Sport England's Chris Grant OBE who sent an open letter to the counties/ECB last week
https://chrisg14a.wordpress.com/2021/11/18/open-letter-to-leaders-of-english-cricket/
Well worth listening to this anyone involved at all levels within the game;
https://audioboom.com/posts/7985661-where-sport-goes-next-after-the-azeem-rafiq-revelations
With this particular incident at least they have a template for dealing with it. The same way they dealt with the Ollie Robinson revelations of historic social media earlier this year. Some thought it too lenient, others too harsh - I thought it was one thing the ECB seemed to get about right.
Obvs these players are not employed by first class counties any longer but still.
Lets not allow it to deflect from the greater task at hand. Although the next few weeks as we all expect will be pretty grim there could be some real shocks with what comes out and the game itself might never be able to revert back to what it was but that itself in many senses is no bad thing.
This thing is way bigger than Azeem vs Yorkshire now as that's been settled. This issue does not need a "figurehead" it needs everyone. If Azeem's aim was to bring down individuals who had wronged him I guess he'd no longer have a leg to stand on. But that's not what he's been calling for, he's demanding change to end systematic racism within Yorkshire & wider cricket. His posts from 10 years ago (sounds like more to come) shouldn't alter sensible folks views on the situation but you just knew the Farage's et al would be suddenly showing interest today
Yorkshire are gonna get hammered once / if the ECB are ever forced to get their act together aren't they?
Witholding International and Major Match cricket was just the first punishment. Look at how Durham were punished and this frankly dwarfs that in terms of severity and damage to the game
The story has got much much bigger since then too. On the Wisden Weekly podcast https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-fayrn-1129f555 they speak about it being existential but quite rightly they point out the punishments have got to be punitive and not simply used as barter to get them to agree to alter their ways.
In last week's podcast one of the contributors questioned how on earth he (or any decent person for that matter) could bring himself to go to Headingley next April in light of the revelation that he'd likely be subject to racist abuse and very little would get done about it.
Complete ban from competitions for the 2022 season has been mooted - personally I'd only apply this to the First XI and the ECB can step in and assist the running of the Academy, 2nd XI and womens sides. Re-introduce Yorkshire into Division Two for the start of the 2023 season once the necessary changes have been made to the club including the removal of the Graves Family Trust element to their ownership and a complete overhaul of the club
As said on the podcast there is potentially a "safeguarding issue" relating to the treatment of non-white spectators and players faced by visiting Headingley so it seems unlikely there'll be many wanting to play there or against their dressing room culture next season. The club may even have to go to the wall and then re-form as a new Yorkshire club
I suggested last week (above) Essex might be involved. I'd be surprised if there were many others with recent stuff hanging about them Middlesex and Surrey may have historic 80's 90's stuff coming up and Gloucestershire already know about a few cases but I'd be shocked if any other county let it get to 2020 with this kinda stuff. Think most cricket fans knew Yorkshire would have to be confronted by this stuff eventually. Long time coming...
Well worth watching
Dobell finishes at Cricinfo today and is clearly saving a few things for when he starts his Cricketer appointment
Good on him. Proper old school journalism well trained at B'ham Post & Mail following on from Jack Bannister. Highly regarded now. I recall the days when Sky would avoid having him on that all-so-pally Cricket Writers tv show on Sunday mornings (a handful of times at best)
Basically because they didn't like uncomfortable truths he had to say. Incredible piece of journalism this as with the Trotty piece and no doubt the 'Yorkshire mafia' will be after him. Too many of that lot high up in the ECB and media to be all that confident that things will change for the good up there. I hope for Yorkshire's sake they bite the bullet and instigate wholesale changes. Think of all the talent that's been missed up there last twenty years - and elsewhere tbf
Interesting headline that. Yorkshire like to portray their county attributes as stubbornness and that's what's got the county in this much trouble.
Gale suspended and Moxon off with stress. As with all the others once they are shown the door - as they surely must be - they all need help/education going forwards and will get work elsewhere. The ECB letting them get away with it for this long is majorly at fault for the "stress"
From the Sunday Telegraph today.
Yorkshire are considering releasing the bombshell Azeem Rafiq racism report by Wednesday, with two more former England internationals now fearing they have been named in it.
Senior figures across cricket and some within the club are pushing hard for the full findings to be published imminently as the sport scrambles to restore trust amid the escalating furore.
After Gary Ballance and Michael Vaughan were named this week as among those accused by Rafiq, two other England players hired lawyers in the expectation they will be identified.
The unnamed pair declined to comment when contacted by Telegraph Sport after a week in which Ballance said "I deeply regret" calling Rafiq a "P---" in "my younger years". Vaughan, however, said in his Telegraph Sport column that he "completely and categorically" denies suggestions he used racially insensitive language.
Rafiq made more than 40 allegations, of which seven were proven, and it is now seen as a matter of time before Yorkshire voluntarily publishes the report following mounting pressure.
Lord Patel of Bradford, the interim chairman drafted in after Roger Hutton dramatically quit on Friday, will address the media for the first time on Monday, and talks had taken place over whether it should be published then.
Amid the worst crisis in the club's 158-year history, the Equality and Human Rights Commission became the latest establishment authority to say that it was "deeply concerned about the incidents of racism" against Rafiq. Commission chief executive Marcial Boo said he has written to the club "to ask for more information, including a full copy of their investigation report, to determine if there has been a breach of the law". "We will take action if so," he added.
Yorkshire's reputation has already endured untold damage during a week in which the most senior figures in Government demanded "heads should roll" and questioned whether the England and Wales Cricket Board was "fit for purpose" over its handling of the saga.
Following an "internal review" sparked by the findings of a 12-month inquiry into race claims tabled by Rafiq, the club announced 10 days ago that "there is no conduct or action taken by any of its employees, players or executives that warrants disciplinary action".
However, leading Government figures launched a barrage of attacks on the club this week, leading to almost all advertisers tearing up deals with the club, after it emerged a "P---" slur aimed by Ballance at Rafiq was dismissed in the report as "friendly banter".
Amid the intensifying crisis, Vaughan was also stood down temporarily from his regular BBC show due to be broadcast on Monday after he voluntarily revealed in The Telegraph that he is among the list of current and former Yorkshire officials accused by Rafiq.
Vaughan's "total" denial that he told Asian players "too many of you lot, we need to do something about it" prompted Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, the former Yorkshire all-rounder, to rally behind Rafiq's version of events.
However, a third player alleged to have been present, Ajmal Shahzad, has previously said he has no recollection of Vaughan saying those words relating to a match at Trent Bridge.
Senior club executives now accept they would have been better off releasing the full 100-page report in September - which was already a year since the independent investigation was launched.
Rafiq, 30, captained Yorkshire in Twenty20 cricket but left the club in 2018 and said he was made to feel like an outsider as a Muslim. He filed a legal claim under the Equality Act in December, alleging direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race, as well as victimisation and detriment as a result of his efforts to address racism at the club.
On Friday, Hutton quit dramatically ahead of a board meeting at which he faced being ousted and called on Mark Arthur and Martyn Moxon to follow suit after the club were banned from staging England matches and other showpiece fixtures. Yorkshire later confirmed Stephen Willis, the non-executive director who was on the panel that ruled Gary Ballance calling Azeem Rafiq a P--- had been banter, and Hanif Malik had also quit.
Now, Lord Patel, who last year retired as a director of the England & Wales Cricket Board, has been parachuted into the Headingley hotseat to attempt to clean up the mess.
Colin Graves had been willing to return as chairman but that was ultimately viewed as being too toxic an appointment amid accusations Yorkshire had also been institutionally racist during his own tenure.
Lord Patel said: “The club needs to learn from its past errors, regain trust and rebuild relationships with our communities. There is much work to do, including reading the panel’s report, so we can begin the process of learning from our past mistakes.”
Graves, who was ECB chairman until last year, and Lord Patel served together on the board of the governing body. It remains to be seen whether the latter’s appointment will satisfy those who have demanded wholesale change at the club.
Yorkshire were due to host two England men’s games in 2022 – June’s third Test against New Zealand, and July’s third one-day international against South Africa.