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.
“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.
“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.
