The England and Wales Cricket Board yesterday announced former Yorkshire player and bowling coach Richard Pyrah had informed it he would not be attending the hearing, joining Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan and John Blain in refusing to engage with the process.
The Cricket Discipline Commission panel will still hear the charges against those five individuals in their absence.
The other individual involved, Gary Ballance, has admitted a charge of using racially discriminatory language and will not appear, the ECB said. The ECB revealed Yorkshire had also admitted four amended charges and their representatives would therefore not appear at the hearing.
These included 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.
Following confirmation Ballance and Yorkshire admitted the charges, Rafiq said: ‘I want to thank both Yorkshire and Gary for doing the right thing and wish them all the best for the future.’
The ECB confirmed the hearing would take place in London between March 1-9. Rafiq has previously alleged Vaughan told him and a group of other players of Asian ethnicity there were ‘too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’ during a huddle before a Yorkshire match in 2009.
Former Yorkshire players Adil Rashid and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan have both supported Rafiq’s account of the incident. Ajmal Shahzad has stated he did not hear Vaughan say these words, and the former England captain himself strenuously denies the allegation.
Rafiq has consistently stated his desire for the hearing to take place in public, a request which the CDC upheld following an appeal.
Hoggard, Bresnan and Blain all stated their intention to withdraw last week. Hoggard told the BBC the ECB disciplinary process had ‘failed everybody’.
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