Yorkshire to play Division One cricket in 2022 but points deduction possible

There had been speculation that the county could be punished for their handling of the Azeem Rafiq affair with relegation from the top tier of the domestic red-ball competition

Yorkshire will play in Division One of the County Championship in 2022.

There had been speculation that the county could be punished for their handling of the Azeem Rafiq affair with relegation from the top tier of the domestic red-ball competition.

The fixture list for the 2022 county summer was belatedly revealed on Thursday – later than usual, though not as a result of uncertainty over the situation surrounding Yorkshire, Neil Snowball, the ECB's managing director for county cricket said.

"I can confirm the fixtures are as published," he said. "Yorkshire are in Division One, and everyone should work on that basis – that Yorkshire are playing in Division One.

"Plan accordingly. If anything changes, then obviously, everybody will communicate it in due course. We are confirming that they are in Division One and are planning to play their matches in Division One this year."

An independent investigation led by the Cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC) is currently ongoing, with a points deduction a possible sanction.

"That may result then in disciplinary action once the hearings have taken place," added Snowball. "At the moment, our assumption is that they're in Division One. We can't assume anything different until that process is concluded.

"All I can confirm is that we want that process to conclude as quickly as possible. Yorkshire are working very hard to address all the criteria that were set, and we're working through that with them. We'll bring that to a conclusion as soon as we can. We want that resolved and then we can go into the season accordingly.

^{Lord Patel has made several changes since taking over as Yorkshire's chairman (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)}

"We're not quite at that point yet, and their suspension remains in place for hosting international matches. But their place in Division One is confirmed at this time. We're hopeful we can get that resolved certainly before the start of the season."

On Wednesday, Ottis Gibson was appointed as the county's new head coach, replacing Andrew Gale who was sacked as part of a mass clear-out of the county's backroom staff.

It was also confirmed by the county that issues around the influence of the Graves Trust had been resolved – something that DCMS select committee chair Julian Knight said must be achieved before the ECB's ban on Headingley hosting international cricket should be lifted.

Lord Patel, the county's new chairman, confirmed that the requirement for the Trust's approval before any board member could be appointed or sacked has been removed.

"Lending from the Graves Trusts is incredibly important financially for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, but trustees are not involved in how we run the club," he said.

"We are making these changes, in the interests of transparency and in line with good governance, to remove any misunderstanding of the role of the trusts."