Yorkshire threat to withdraw Gale’s pay-off
YORKSHIRE have sensationally threatened to withdraw their offer of compensation to Andrew Gale the day after announcing they had reached a financial settlement with their former captain and coach.
In an extraordinary development, Sportsmail can reveal Yorkshire have so far refused to sign a legal agreement which would see them pay Gale a six-figure sum in compensation for sacking him unfairly, along with 15 other colleagues, in light of Azeem Rafiq’s racism claims. Yorkshire had reached an agreement with Gale, and former bowling coach Richard Pyrah, at a mediation hearing in Leeds on Wednesday, following months of negotiations. In another twist, the club are believed to have signed the paperwork relating to Pyrah’s settlement, increasing the sense Gale is being singled out. Gale and Pyrah have signed their parts of the agreement, but Yorkshire officials left the talks on Wednesday without adding a signature, which has led to a farcical stand-off. Yorkshire’s U-turn is understood to have come amid anger from board members that Sportsmail revealed details of the settlements with Gale and Pyrah on Wednesday. Despite this, Yorkshire themselves went public with a statement on their website on Thursday, which was later removed. Yorkshire’s back-sliding prompted a frantic day of talks between both sides’ legal teams yesterday.
Unless the club have another change of heart, the matter will now be decided at a Leeds Employment Tribunal hearing on October 31. Yorkshire declined to comment last night.
HALES has always been a strong white-ball player and has excelled both domestically and internationally in T20s. OVERALL T20I RECORD: Matches: 60 Runs: 1,644 Highest score: 116* Average: 31.01 Strike rate: 136.66 Hundreds/fifties: 1/8 4s/6s: 175/55 10,000
HALES is the
only English player with over 10,000 runs in the format. He is the eighthhighest run scorer of all time in T20 cricket, with 10,104 runs. n SINCE his last game for England, only Pakistan’s Babar Azam (4674) has more runs than Hales (4587) in all T20 cricket.