Michael Vaughan acquitted of racism charges in CDC hearing, five others found guilty

A Cricket Discipline Commission has upheld the charges against six of the seven accused charged with making racial comments at Yorkshire Cricket Club. The only person to be acquitted of the allegations was former England captain Michael Vaughan.

The former England captain was one of the seven men charged with racial abuse after an investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board revealed rampant use of racially insensitive language at Yorkshire over the past two decades.  

Former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq had accused Vaughan of saying "there's too many of you lot" while addressing a group of four British Asian and Asian players during a pre-match huddle ahead of a Yorkshire match in 2009.

After hearing the evidence relating to the case earlier in march, the CDC delivered the verdict on Friday, March 31.

Several inconsistencies were found in the witness testimony provided by Rafiq and Adil Rashid and were referenced in the CDC verdict. The ECB also failed to record a statement by Rana Naveed ul Hasan, who had initially validated Rafiq’s claims. Rana had stated that Vaughan used the phrase "you lot" in a conversation with ITV in 2021 but the hearings did not hear testimony to that extent.

In its verdict relating to the charge against Vaughan, which relied largely on witness testimony on both sides, the panel said: "The Panel has been required to concentrate on the focussed evidence presented to it by both parties in respect of one comment, made in two parts, on an afternoon now nearly 14 years ago.”

"This is not a case which necessitated a conclusion from the Panel that anyone has lied or acted out of malice. Far from it, the Panel had to consider whether the case as presented to it by the ECB, in light of all the evidence, was sufficiently accurate and reliable, on the balance of probabilities, to rule out mistake. It was not,” the verdict further read.

Following the verdict, Vaughan was critical of the CDC process in a statement, and described it as an "inappropriate, inadequate and backwards step".

"There are no winners in this process and there are better ways - there have to be better ways - for cricket to move forward positively and effectively," his statement read.

"At times, this process has brought me to the brink of falling out of love with cricket. I won't address here the toll it has taken on me and my family, but I have no doubt it has also been incredibly stressful for all the others concerned. I hope that for them and for cricket, an inclusive healing process can now begin,” the statement further read.

Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan and Gary Ballance found guilty

Vaughan was the only accused defending himself at the CDC hearing, with Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Richard Pyrah and Andrew Gale all deciding against it. The remaining five men didn’t attend the hearing as they had lost trust in the ECB's investigation and the disciplinary process.

Former England player Gary Ballance, accepted the charge laid against him and therefore did not have his case heard at the CDC hearings. He has since shifted to Zimbabwe and has begun playing at the international level for his native country.

Yorkshire have already admitted to four ECB charges and will face a sanctioning hearing at a later date.