Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, the former England fast bowlers, at the side of ex-Scotland international John Blain have all joined Andrew Gale in withdrawing from the disciplinary process when it comes to allegations of historical racism at Yorkshire.
The quartet of former Yorkshire cricketers were among seven people because of appear before the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) in March, on charges levelled by the ECB in June following allegations made by their former team-mate, Azeem Rafiq.
Then again, it is understood that Hoggard, Bresnan and Blain have now taken the same approach that Gale took final year, informing the ECB that they have got missing confidence in the process and that they are going to not attempt to defend themselves against the charges.
After what the ECB described as a “thorough and complex investigation”, the players were charged in accordance with Directive 3.3, which says: “No participant may conduct themselves in a manner or do any act or omission at any time which is wrong or that could be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.”
Gale, the former club captain and latterly head coach – who may be Bresnan’s brother-in-law – responded two weeks later with a observation that denied the entire allegations against him, adding that he had “moved on with his life”. He used to be also one of the most 16 members of staff who won an employment tribunal against Yorkshire final year, after their collective sacking in the wake of the allegations.
Hoggard’s witness observation, parts of which have been revealed in The Cricketer final week, will be his only contribution to the commission. At the time of writing, only Hoggard’s former England captain and fellow 2005 Ashes-winner, Michael Vaughan, and former bowling coach Richard Pyrah are because of participate with the process. Gary Ballance, who has left Yorkshire and returned to play for Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, accepted his CDC charge on five counts, including the usage of racist language, but will not appear at the hearings.
In November 2022, the CDC announced the hearing would be made public which in turn led to a delay in the process because of respondents attractive the decision. Then again, the ECB confirmed to the Press Organization on January 13 that those appeals had been dismissed by an independent Appeal Panel convened by the CDC.
It is understood that Hoggard, Bresnan and Blain cite this, at the side of a loss of confidence in the process following leaks to the media, as reasons for not volunteering to the inquiry.