Yorkshire have confirmed paperwork referring to allegations of racism in opposition to the county cricket membership had been deleted below the earlier regime. A Cricket Discipline Commission listening to will begin in London subsequent week however no Yorkshire representatives will likely be current after they admitted to 4 amended fees introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board over the membership’s dealing with of former participant Azeem Rafiq’s allegations. It has now been confirmed that one of many fees pertains to the deletion or destruction of each digital and paper paperwork however whereas this occurred earlier than present chairman Kamlesh Patel took over, the county wouldn’t say who was accountable.

“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,” a membership assertion stated.

“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 membership is just not ready to conjecture publicly as to why this occurred, who was accountable or the motivation for doing so.”

Next week’s disciplinary hearing will start on Wednesday but the only charged individual still set to appear is ex-England captain Michael Vaughan.

Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, Richard Pyrah and John Blain have refused to engage with the process.

The Cricket Discipline Commission panel will still hear the charges against those five in their absence.

Gary Ballance, also charged, has already admitted using racially discriminatory language and will not appear.

Pakistan-born Rafiq, 31, first raised allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020, related to his two spells at Yorkshire.

He told a British parliamentary committee in December 2022 that the abuse he and his family had faced had forced him to leave the UK.

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