Rafiq ‘ultimatum’ on racism hearing could backfire

to withdraw from the process in an application made to the CDC on September 16, drawing a stinging response from the ECB.

‘The ECB is obviously extremely disappointed and frustrated by Mr Rafiq’s decision, at this very late stage, to impose his ultimatum on the process,’ read a submission from their lawyers Onside Law. ‘Mr Rafiq’s unexpected and highly unusual ultimatum has significant adverse consequences for these very important and highly sensitive proceedings.

‘If the application is unsuccessful and Mr Rafiq withdraws his evidence from these proceedings, many (but not all) of the ECB charges in these proceedings will need to be withdrawn, for lack of supporting evidence.

‘This would deprive Mr Rafiq of the opportunity he has understandably sought of having his numerous serious allegations heard and adjudicated on by an experienced independent panel, as well as depriving the respondents of the opportunity to defend themselves in such a forum against those serious allegations.

‘On the other hand, if the application is successful, one other key prosecution witness has confirmed they will not want to participate in a public hearing, unless their identity and evidence is kept private.

‘The ECB also believes such a decision is likely to have a chilling effect on the willingness of complainants and witnesses to engage with future ECB disciplinary processes, and therefore the ECB’s ability to prosecute disciplinary misconduct.

‘(There is) concern that there will be a stifling effect on ECB disciplinary matters.’

The ECB’s lawyers go on to dispute several of the observations made by Rafiq in his application to the CDC, notably his claim that he is unaware of the charges brought against his former team-mates. In another significant extract, the ECB make clear that on several charges Rafiq is their only witness.

The ECB declined to comment.

The eCB accused Azeem Rafiq of undermining their disciplinary processes and hindering cricket’s fight against discrimination in their extraordinary attempt to stop the Yorkshire racism trial from taking place in public.

Sportsmail has seen the eCB’s bombshell submission to the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) last month, in which the governing body argue a public hearing would have a ‘chilling’ and ‘stifling’ effect on their ability to police misconduct, before going on to challenge many of the claims made by Rafiq in his application for an open hearing.

In their written response to Rafiq, dated September 30, the eCB strongly oppose his request for the disciplinary hearing of seven former Yorkshire players, including Michael Vaughan,

Matthew hoggard and Tim Bresnan, to take place in public, although they appeared to change their minds halfway through a CDC preliminary hearing to discuss the matter on October 15.

As revealed by Sportsmail, the CDC agreed on Wednesday to grant Rafiq’s request, with a public hearing now scheduled to begin on November 28. The eCB had argued against such a move on the grounds that at least two of their six prosecution witnesses would refuse to give evidence in public. They also claimed that holding an open hearing would set a damaging precedent in their disciplinary role. Rafiq threatened