We’re all in fear of penalty

YORKSHIRE RACISM FALLOUT

YORKSHIRE’S players admit their performances have been impacted amid the uncertainty around the club’s impending sanctions.

A trip to Division Two leaders Durham tomorrow is hardly the most likely place for Yorkshire to get their first win of the season after a loss, two draws and a rain abandonment.

But there were perhaps signs of recovery last week when they clung on to draw, nine wickets down, against Glamorgan thanks to a mammoth innings from Adam Lyth.

However, the Cricket Discipline Commission are yet to hand down sanctions to Yorkshire after the club admitted four charges over the racism scandal that has rocked the game.

That hearing will not take place until June 27 when the players will find out if there will be a points deduction, as well as fines, that would make hopes of climbing out of Division Two impossible.

That cloud hanging over Headingley is having a negative effect on a group of players, most of whom were not at the club when Azeem Rafiq, above, was there.

“The biggest thing is there is so much uncertainty,” admitted senior batter Dawid Malan.

“No one knows if there is going to be a points deduction.

“If there are points, how many? What is the financial situation? There is a lot going on at the moment.

“A lot of the chats have been taken over by that. I think as players you want to be performing as well as you can to get the club and your own personal performances in as good a position as you can.

“But when there are a lot of things hanging over you then that does make it tough, especially for the guys who haven’t had the opportunity to play international or franchise cricket yet, so it means everything to them to play for Yorkshire.

“It is tough when you feel like all the work you are doing will be undone, but that is just the nature of it.

“We can only hope it doesn’t hit this group too hard from a cricketing point of view. As a club we need to take whatever sanctions we are given and deal with it.”

Malan is committed to giving everything for Yorkshire before his attentions turn to The Hundred for Trent Rockets and then the 50-over World Cup with England. The 35-year-old said: “It is about managing your schedule as best you can.”