Cricket

[Shaggy]

It's shocking this

[ame]https://twitter.com/CricketMirror/status/1460552930520616965[/ame]

[Alex]

See I dont respect Root for standing by and letting it happen, he might be a good person, but how can you be a good person if you see someone, a teammate, be racially abused for banter. Ive been in a tear up because someone called my Indian mate horrible slur. It didnt sit well with us as 20 somethings, so why is it sitting fine enough to slide with people like Root.

This is all probably pretty hypocritical of me though, as when we were similar age we all engaged in that type of **** banter with my mate (never racist language mentioned in that tweet). Weve spoken about it really recently and he never felt it was malicious or racist. But none of us do it now, so on some level there is acknowledgement as adults its probably not on even if he doesnt care. Maybe its that? This sounds a lot more malicious tbh.

Its really hard, because the standards I hold myself too now are a lot higher than when I was early/mid 20s and drinking every weekend.

[Buzzo]

I agree, it is all pretty grim. The denials from Vaughan, and Roots "I never heard anything" these are previous and current captains of England.

There needs to be a bit of honesty before anyone can move on.

Clearly Vaughan did say something. Clearly there was a culture of racist abuse but so endemic that those who were carrying it out almost didnt see it for what it is. It is like harking back to the 70's and 80's when this was the culture in society as a whole.

With Vaughan, I would respect him if he said "I hold myself to a higher standard now, and if I said anything offensive in the past then I truly apologise for it" and then he should look to educate himself about the cultures of the people he abused. He has to do that.

And with Root, he also must admit that the problem exists, and then explain how, as captain of England he intends to create this inclusive culture.

At its heart it is just so unsurprising that a game as rooted in cultural imperialism has issues in racism. The game literally exists in these countries due to colonialism and the British Empire, imagine the sense of superiority that must have existed in these days. Not at all surprising that these attitudes prevail, and not at all surprising that denial and cover up seems to be the default response.

My guess is that there are even worse examples to come.

[Alex]

There has to be worse to come, its clearly been hidden.

I think Root needs to show some leadership here in the same way Henderson has with us, or Southgate with England. Acknowledge the past, seek to make the future better. Football is lightyears ahead of Cricket (and a lot of other sports tbh) in terms of inclusivity and diversity.

I like Root, but this is such a bad look at the moment. Vaughn too. I personally think hes doing "Deny deny deny" because of wanting to protect his short term ventures. But in the long term, its going to bite him. **** me, he can go out and do a 3 part documentary about how he educated himself and come out of this looking a lot better and showing some personal growth, but atm he seems to be burying his head. That wont lead to systemic change.

[Yozza]

Ex-Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton is the next witness


'I was asked to abandon the process' - Hutton

Hutton on resistance he experienced in the Yorkshire boardroom.

"There were a number of signals throughout the process, I was asked by the CEO to abandon the process and investigation.

"An employment tribunal had been settled and the CEO did not want to apologise. I said Azeem Rafiq would be part of the process of healing and reconciliation and was told he would not be welcome.

"There were isolated incidents like this throughout the investigation.

"When the report was produced on 17 August, there was a clear resistance to see Azeem as a victim and clear resistance to apology.

"There is not one defining moment and I saw resistance and it accumulated.

"I believed that the club's culture was in the past and needs changing, my resigning was not going to change that, (being on the board) that would have been done from within."


Hutton on how the club is run - 'I would have liked to have removed Arthur & Moxon

"One of my difficulties as chair is that I cannot remove someone from the board without permission from the Colin Graves Trust [which finances the club]."

Hutton is asked who, precisely, he wanted to remove and what the Colin Graves Trust said.

"I would have liked to have removed Mark Arthur and Martyn Moxon," he says.

"Not because of the conduct that is referred to in the report but as a consequence of their failure to understand the gravity of the situation, "their failure to apologise and their failure to move on the recommendations the panel put forward."

Hutton says he also thought the head of HR should be removed.

[Yozza]

Damning

Hutton also asked if Yorkshire is institutionally racist

Hutton is also asked if Yorkshire is institutionally racist.

"The panel concluded there was insufficient evidence. I have to observe that in the past few months there has been a substantial amount of thoughtlessness and ignorance and a reluctance to apologise; to see Azeem as a victim; to put into place the recommendations."

The commitee member remarks that it sounds like Hutton is edging towards yes.

"I think the question remains unanswered," he says.

When pushed further, Hutton says: "Yes, I fear it falls under that definition".

[Yozza]

On a different note...



Pakistan to host 2025 Champions Trophy as ICC confirm eight men's tournaments

Pakistan will host the 2025 Champions Trophy after the International Cricket Council confirmed eight men's tournaments between 2024 and 2031.

The announcement comes after New Zealand and England pulled out of tours to Pakistan in recent months.

The USA will host their first major cricket tournament when they jointly put on the 2024 T20 World Cup with West Indies.

The 2030 T20 World Cup will be in England, Ireland and Scotland.

The tournament in Pakistan will see the return of the Champions Trophy after an eight-year break, with Pakistan beating India, who will host the 2029 tournament, by 180 runs in the 2017 final.

There will also be T20 World Cups in India and Sri Lanka in 2026 and Australia and New Zealand in 2028.

South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will host the 2027 50-over World Cup, before the 2031 tournament takes place in India and Bangladesh.

These tournaments will follow a T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November 2022 before a 50-over World Cup in India in October and November 2023.


ICC events between 2022 and 2031


50-over World Cup

2023: India

2027: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia

2031: India and Bangladesh


T20 World Cup

2022: Australia

2024: USA and West Indies

2026: India and Sri Lanka

2028: Australia and New Zealand

2030: England, Ireland and Scotland


Champions Trophy

2025: Pakistan

2029: India

[Alex]

https://twitter.com/BBCr4today/status/1461266999288516610?

[Harv]

Been watching Rafiq speak at the Select Committee, and dear God it's pretty abject stuff. Horrifying tbh.

Rotten to the core.

https://twitter.com/CricketMirror/st...46896834043906

I don't understand the Kevin reference. Is this an English thing?


On lighter news, Tim "goldenboy" Paine has resigned as test captain because he sent some lewd texts 4 years ago that have now come to light.

[Zapater]

I don't understand the Kevin reference. Is this an English thing?


On lighter news, Tim "goldenboy" Paine has resigned as test captain because he sent some lewd texts 4 years ago that have now come to light.

I see people are getting really up in arms about this, but they're not digesting what is actually said. There's nothing racist about the name Kevin. It is however racist in this context because Ballance and Hales allegedly had an in joke referring to all people of colour as 'Kevin'. Hence Hales calling his black dog Kevin because of his black fleece.

Some of what has come out is really bad. Some big names being implicated. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. It happened in SA too, but that was more institutionalised stuff, this is accusations of blatant in your face discrimination.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/yorkshire-racism-crisis-yorkshire-covered-up-gary-ballance-drugs-tests-claims-azeem-rafiq-1289651

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/azeem-rafiq-before-we-move-forward-the-game-needs-to-listen-to-a-lot-of-people-who-have-suffered-1289656

Had a read of Ballance's side of the story (I'll try to dig up the article) and he makes it sound like they were good drinking buddies and both spoke a lot of ****. If that is the case, it's pretty harsh of him going public because Ballance claims that Rafiq stayed with his him and his family in Zimbabwe for an extended period of time and he was close to them. If that is indeed true, that's pretty ****ty to go to the media before having a chance to resolve it with him directly, especially with the drugs stuff.

Saw this on Skysports which was pretty horrendous too: https://www.skysports.com/cricket/ne...t-time-at-club

Chambers told The Cricketer: "We had a team night out in Chelmsford. The other player got pretty drunk. When I got home, he threw a banana down the stairs and said: 'Climb for it, you f***ing monkey."'

----------

On Paine, it's quite hilarious considering he was given the captaincy to instil values and lead by example. The timeline of the incident is just before the chaos ensured with Smith. What exactly does it say? I can't be bothered looking it up, it can't be that bad, can it?

[Harv]

I see people are getting really up in arms about this, but they're not digesting what is actually said. There's nothing racist about the name Kevin. It is however racist in this context because Ballance and Hales allegedly had an in joke referring to all people of colour as 'Kevin'. Hence Hales calling his black dog Kevin because of his black fleece.

Some of what has come out is really bad. Some big names being implicated. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. It happened in SA too, but that was more institutionalised stuff, this is accusations of blatant in your face discrimination.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/yorkshire-racism-crisis-yorkshire-covered-up-gary-ballance-drugs-tests-claims-azeem-rafiq-1289651

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/azeem-rafiq-before-we-move-forward-the-game-needs-to-listen-to-a-lot-of-people-who-have-suffered-1289656

Had a read of Ballance's side of the story (I'll try to dig up the article) and he makes it sound like they were good drinking buddies and both spoke a lot of ****. If that is the case, it's pretty harsh of him going public because Ballance claims that Rafiq stayed with his him and his family in Zimbabwe for an extended period of time and he was close to them. If that is indeed true, that's pretty ****ty to go to the media before having a chance to resolve it with him directly, especially with the drugs stuff.

Saw this on Skysports which was pretty horrendous too: https://www.skysports.com/cricket/ne...t-time-at-club



----------

On Paine, it's quite hilarious considering he was given the captaincy to instil values and lead by example. The timeline of the incident is just before the chaos ensured with Smith. What exactly does it say? I can't be bothered looking it up, it can't be that bad, can it?

Im not exactly up in arms about it. Just asking a question, as I have no idea why the name Kevin could be deemed racist So its just Balance's own little term thats he's made up?? Thats even worse! You know all the usual terms are bad, so you've made up some term to get around it FFS

Not sure what Paine has said in the texts. There's apparently a dick pic though as you'd expect. Also not sure if the texts were mutual with this colleague (ie was she sending him shiit as well?) I think its all just being frowned upon because he's married with kids etc.

Im delighted with it though as i think he's ****ing **** Carey is a much better batsman and on-par keeper.

[Zapater]

Im not exactly up in arms about it. Just asking a question, as I have no idea why the name Kevin could be deemed racist So its just Balance's own little term thats he's made up?? Thats even worse! You know all the usual terms are bad, so you've made up some term to get around it FFS

Not sure what Paine has said in the texts. There's apparently a dick pic though as you'd expect. Also not sure if the texts were mutual with this colleague (ie was she sending him shiit as well?) I think its all just being frowned upon because he's married with kids etc.

Im delighted with it though as i think he's ****ing **** Carey is a much better batsman and on-par keeper.

Sorry, should have specified, didn't mean you - was referring to random people online where I've seen comments Indeed, it's 100% their own cryptic speech to be publicly racist among eachother which allegedly made its way to the English team too. Although, we don't know if this is true, all claims at this stage, but I'm not why he'd make that up I know some of the other claims were verified through other squad members, not sure about the Kevin one.

Paine is good with the gloves, but mediocre with the bat, while Carey is decent with gloves and really good at batting. Probably worth the trade in all honesty. I get a bit sick of this technology ruining people's lives. Harsh to make a guy give up the captaincy or resign for cheating on his wife or taking a photo of his cock. In the world we live in people like to think they're perfect, but all of that is part of life.

[Shaggy]

Why should he have to resign over this?

[Buzzo]

The embarrassment must be overwhelming.

[Shaggy]

Laughed my head off watching him sobbing. Tbh I liked him in that documentary on Prime but there's something inherently amusing about watching Aussie captains - blokes - tearfully resigning.