The England and Wales Cricket board performed a “woefully inadequate investigation” into Michael Vaughan that displayed “actual bias” and was once “an affront to fairness”, the general day of the Yorkshire racism listening to was once instructed.
In his ultimate submission the previous England captain’s felony recommend, Christopher Stoner KC, puzzled why the ECB had to start with withheld a commentary from Ajmal Shahzad that subsidized Vaughan’s claims that he had by no means uttered the word “there are too many of you lot” to 4 Asians. gamers ahead of a Twenty20 sport in 2009.
Stoner additionally raised considerations to the Cricket Discipline Commission that the ECB had no longer spoken to the umpires, cameramen or most of the gamers on the sport ahead of charging Vaughan.
“The investigation in this case was woefully inadequate,” he mentioned. “Due procedure issues and it’s the cornerstone of legislation. But in our submission it was once despatched on vacation by means of the ECB. It raises an actual query of equity, which Mr Vaughan has no longer been afforded.
“Given the character of the allegation, the minimal requirement for any truthful‑minded investigation was once to talk to everybody concerned. Instead there was once a prosecution from the outset,” added Stoner, who said it amounted to “proof of exact bias”.
Stoner also questioned why Vaughan would ever have used such a phrase when a Sky TV cameraman was next to the Yorkshire team’s huddle. “It is inherently implausible that such severe and unacceptable phrases had been spoken to teammates simply as a sport was once beginning, within the presence of a cameraman and virtually without a doubt a microphone,” he said. “And had been then no longer spoken about for a duration of eleven years between any of the ones concerned.”
Concluding his case, Stoner told the panel that the case was of considerable importance to Vaughan, adding that “the form of his existence and livelihood are at stake”.
However Jane Mulcahy KC, counsel for the ECB, said Vaughan’s insistence that he had never heard the P-word during an era where Yorkshire have already admitted systemic racism raised doubts about his credibility.
“Matthew Hoggard had admitted to the usage of the phrases ‘Paki’ and ‘token Black guy’ and the word ‘you lot’,” she mentioned. “While Gary Ballance had admitted to the usage of quite a few discriminatory phrases, together with ‘Paki’ to Azeem Rafiq on a lot of events.
“Mr Vaughan played in 35 games for Yorkshire in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, 17 of which he played with Mr Hoggard, yet claimed not to have heard any use of the word ‘Paki’. His response was simply not credible, and therefore undermines his credibility generally.”
Mulcahy additionally alleged that 3 tweets, despatched by means of Vaughan in 2010 and 2017 which he has since admitted had been unacceptable, had been indicative of a common trend. “If a person has a tendency to make racist comments, they have a tendency to make racist comments,” she mentioned.
Mulcahy additionally instructed the listening to that Vaughan have been charged on “credible evidence” from Rafiq, corroborated by means of Adil Rashid and supported by means of Naved-ul-Hasan, including there may be “no suggestion they have lied or conspired together”. And she denied claims that the ECB have been biased, telling the listening to the claims had been “very inappropriate”.
Vaughan is charged with a breach of ECB directive 3.3, in the case of flawed behavior, along side 5 different gamers – Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Andrew Gale and Rich Pyrah – who’ve had fees heard in opposition to them of their absence. Tim O’Gorman, chair of the 3‑particular person panel, instructed the court docket he was hoping to announce a written verdict within the subsequent 3 weeks.
“These are judgments that need careful consideration,” he mentioned. “We hope to have them by means of the top of the month. However I am hoping you realize the panel has really extensive skilled commitments.