Yorkshire welcome ECB plans to improve equality and diversity

The club were rocked by allegations of "institutional racism" from former star Azeem Rafiq over the summer, while then-teammate Rana Naved-ul-Hasan said he had experienced "systematic taunting" and "racial slurs" from Yorkshire fans.

A thorough investigation has been launched into Rafiq's claims by the club.

That is still ongoing, but for now, the club have welcomed the latest national developments on tackling equality and diversity issues in cricket.

In a club statement, Yorkshire said: "Cricket enjoys support from diverse audiences across the world, however, it is clear we must do much more to improve inclusion across all forms and levels of the game if we are to truly reflect the communities who contribute so much to the sport.

"The Yorkshire County Cricket Club wholeheartedly support the ECB’s aims to further their work on an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan for 2021-24 and want to be part of ensuring meaningful change across the game.

"We recognise that county clubs are crucial to the success of the plan and will look to apply its actions, initiatives and targets across our own organisation.

"We already support the ECB in a number of their projects but there is much more we can and must do to properly address issues of diversity and equality in our sport.

"As part of our commitment to this Action Plan, our board will look to appoint a Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the New Year, with responsibility for delivering meaningful, measurable initiatives across Yorkshire cricket.

"As well as the ECB actions, we will also seek to implement the recommendations due to be made by the investigation panel considering the allegations made by our former player, Azeem Rafiq.

"This is an important investigation and we have committed to a full and thorough process to provide an in-depth set of recommendations, which we now hope to publish in early 2021."