Image by ecb.co.uk

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that the substantive hearing of a Panel of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) into disciplinary charges against Yorkshire County Cricket Club and a number of individuals into racism and other allegations will take place in London between Wednesday, 1 March and Thursday, 9 March 2023 inclusive.

The independent CDC Panel which will hear the matter is comprises of Tim O’Gorman (Chair), Mark Milliken-Smith KC and Dr Seema Patel. This hearing will only address issues of liability. Any issues of sanction will be dealt with at a later date.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the individuals are charged with alleged breaches of ECB Directive 3.3*. The individuals are as follows (in alphabetical order): Gary Ballance, John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, Richard Pyrah and Michael Vaughan.

It should be noted that:

• Yorkshire CCC has admitted liability in response to four amended charges, including a failure to address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over a prolonged period and a failure to take adequate action in respect of allegations of racist and/or discriminatory behaviour. Yorkshire CCC will therefore not be participating in this CDC hearing.
•  Gary Ballance has admitted liability in response to the charge against him for his use of racially discriminatory language and will therefore not be participating in this CDC hearing
•  In addition to Tim Bresnan, John Blain and Matthew Hoggard withdrawing from the proceedings, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah have also informed the ECB that they will not be attending this CDC hearing and therefore the charges against each of them will be heard in their absence.

The CDC Panel has directed that the hearing will be in public, to the extent that accredited members of the media will be permitted to view and report on a live feed of the hearing.

Further details on the independently-administered media accreditation process and other related practical matters will be provided in due course.

More information on the CDC process can be found here.
*A breach of ECB Directive 3.3 is conduct which is improper or which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer into disrepute.