YORKSHIRE will seek clarification from the England and Wales Cricket Board over their disciplinary procedure after it was revealed that Somerset bowler Craig Overton was banned for only two matches after verbally abusing a fellow player in September.

Overton, 21, sent the abusive remark in the direction of Sussex’s Pakistan-born player Ashar Zaidi in an incident which echoed the one Andrew Gale and Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince were involved in towards the end of 2014.

In that situation, Gale was hit with an overall four-match ban and was prevented from lifting the Championship trophy.

Both Gale and Overton had previous black marks on their disciplinary records.

Yorkshire are not commenting publicly on the situation, but it is understood that they are ready to contact the board for an explanation as to the difference in level of punishment.

Both four-day captain Gale and Yorkshire’s coach Jason Gillespie, currently in Adelaide ahead of the Big Bash, both reacted on Twitter to the story initially published in the Guardian newspaper on Thursday.

Gale said “interesting article, take a read” and Gillespie’s reaction was “Hmmmmmm and well, well, well”.

Gale was initially hit with a Level Two offence and banned for two matches under the ECB’s driver license like disciplinary code having previously totted up points.

But the board decided to further punish the left-handed batsman by banning him for another two matches, although they accepted there was no racist intent in his comments.

In the Overton case, Zaidi did not hear the remarks made, but his batting partner Mike Yardy did and complained to umpire Alex Wharf, a former White Rose player.

Overton denied making such remarks, but was hit with a Level One offence – the lowest level on the disciplinary code – raising questions over double standards from the ECB.