News about Matthew Hoggard

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Exclusive MATT HUGHES: With the long-running discipline process in danger of devolving into farce, a number of the former Yorkshire players found guilty of using racist words towards Azeem Rafiq will refuse to pay fines imposed by the Cricket Discipline Commission. The ECB's legal team urged the CDC to levy fines totalling £37,000 on the six ex-Yorkshire players, including former Ashes champion Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, as well as a formal reprimand and education course at a London hearing on Wednesday. Mail Sport has since interviewed three of the players involved, who have confirmed that they did not pay the fines in protest against the ECB's flawed disciplinary system.

Y MATT HUGHES: Tim Bresnan, a former England fast bowler, is planning to appeal after being found guilty of using racist words when playing for Yorkshire, with the enthralling tale triggered by Azeem Rafiq's allegations set to drag on. On Friday, the ECB announced that their Cricket Discipline Commission had upheld disrepute charges against Bresnan, including the allegation that he called Rafiq's sister Amna a 'Fit P**i' on several occasions while on duty for his county. Bresnan was suspended from the ECB's discipline process last month due to sadness at being refused access to vital evidence whilst preparing his defense, but Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Gale, Richard Pyrah, and John Blain were found guilty in his absence.

As the ECB reported that Tim Bresnan and fellow Ashes winner Matthew Hoggard were central to a 'prevailing atmosphere' of bigotry at Yorkshire on Wednesday, Tim Bresnan was charged on Wednesday with calling Azeem Rafiq's sister a "fit P***" or 'FP." After withdrawing due to questions regarding the fairness of the procedure, the pair are being tried in their absence at a hearing of the ECB's cricket discipline commission. Both deny the charges. The ECB laid out their case against Bresnan and Hoggard, two of seven former Yorkshire players charged with bringing the game into disrepute by using racist words on the first day of the trial.

In English Test cricket, the guard was up for re-training. For the first time in whites at the expense of 2005 Ashes heroes Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, a 25-year-old Jimmy Anderson and a 21-year-old Stuart Broad were brought together in March 2008. England won the second Test in Wellington and went on to clinch the series 2-1, the last time they won in New Zealand. Anderson and Broad are back at the Basin Reserve in their 133 Tests together, eclipsing Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne's record of 1,001 last week.

PAUL NEWMAN: Jimmy Anderson spoke about the pivotal role he played for Auckland on Monday in New Zealand's historic strike partnership with Stuart Broad, but it was not without irony. Anderson recalled how Brendon McCullum, the now England coach, was 'fuming' when he did something similar at the start of the 2008 season here, with Australians led by Steve Smith apparently eager to use county cricket as preparations for this year's Ashes. It was a solitary appearance in New Zealand domestic cricket that made Anderson ready when, with England defeated 1-0 in a three-match series, Michael Vaughan and Peter Moores decided to move forward from the legendary Ashes winning pair of Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard to their young guns.

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, is the only person charged in connection with the racism charges made by his ex-Yorkshire teammate Azeem Rafiq. Former Yorkshire player and bowling coach Richard Pyrah had informed the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday that he would not be attending, leading Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, John Blain, and Tim Bresnan, who refused to participate in the process. However, the Cricket Discipline Commission panel will also hear the charges against those five individuals in their absence. Gary Ballance, the other person convicted, has pleaded guilty to a charge of using racial discriminatory words and will not appear, according to the ECB.

RICHARD GIBSON: The investigation into allegations of bigotry at York may have been reduced to a showdown between Michael Vaughan and Azeem Rafiq, according to rumors that another former player could withdraw, if necessary. Tim Bresnan and Matthew Hoggard, the ECB's top-five winners, walked out on Friday, assuaging grave doubts that they would not be able to obtain a fair hearing. That came after Andrew Gale's refusal to participate in the Cricket Discipline Commission's investigation from the start.

Tim Bresnan and Matthew Hoggard, two former Yorkshire players, were among three others to withdraw from the discipline process into allegations of bigotry at the club yesterday. Bresnan told Sportsmail that it seemed as if he had been 'prosecuted before being arrested.' Bresnan, Hoggard, and former Scotland international John Blain had been expected to appear before the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) next month, but they lost hope that they would get a fair hearing after the ECB refused to divulge critical evidence against the players convicted of bigotry by Azeem Rafiq.

The ECB is refusing to submit vital evidence to former Yorkshire players accused of bigotry by Azeem Rafiq, which has left several of them on the verge of abandoning the discipline process. Lawyers for the seven players, including Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, and Tim Bresnan, have repeatedly refused access to interviews and statements from key witnesses by the governing body, according to Sportmail. Both Hoggard and Bresnan are reported to be so dissatisfied that they could officially leave this week, but Vaughan is determined to continue fighting and clarify his name. Since he was charged with bringing the game into disrepute by using racist words against Rafiq by the ECB, the former England captain hasn't worked since stepping away from commentary duties with the BBC last June.

EXCLUSIVE: In a move that could raise concerns about the governing body's involvement in the process, the ECB has offered Azeem Rafiq three days with their legal team to prepare him for the Yorkshire racism hearing next month. Rafiq is the main source and in several cases the sole witness to allegations that have charged seven ex-Yorkshire players with bringing the game into disrepute by using racist words against him. The trial is set to begin between 1 and 9 March after being postponed twice last year, with former England players Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, and Tim Bresnan among those who have protested allegations of bigotry.

Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard, two former England players, were among the seven people arrested with using racist words against Azeem Rafiq in public, but Sportsmail has learned that a newly convened CDC has ruled against them. The ECB charged Yorkshire and seven former players with bigotry last summer, almost two years after Rafiq's first allegations were made, with a tortuous disciplinary process delayed by legal challenges ever since.

The Yorkshire racial lawsuit is expected to be postponed until March, but it could continue into the new domestic season. Sportsmail has discovered that the ECB has asked the seven defendants, which includes former England actors Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, and Tim Bresnan, for their availability between February and March 30, with the governing body planning a hearing for the time. Vaughan was one of seven ex-Yorkshire players charged with using racist words against Azeem Rafiq last June, and six months later, they are still waiting for the opportunity to reveal their names.

Since the majority of the accused appealed against the unprecedented decision to hold the trial in public, the Yorkshire racism trial is expected to be postponed. Sportsmail has learned that the ECB is planning to order another preliminary hearing to hear from former Yorkshire and England players Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, who together with five other ex-players, have been charged with using racist words against Azeem Rafiq. After the CDC took the unexpected step of recommending a public trial a fortnight ago, the ECB had set aside two weeks for a hearing set to begin on November 28. However, given the numerous appeals, the ECB could now be impossible.

EXCLUSIVE: The ECB has submitted a late request to include a witness statement from Azeem Rafiq's friend to the evidence in the trial of former England bowler Matthew Hoggard on racism charges a week after the deadline for submissions has passed. Sportsmail has learned that the ECB has asked the Cricket Discipline Commission for permission to include a statement by James Buttler, a freelance cricket journalist who first revealed Rafiq's allegations of persecution at Yorkshire two years ago and has consistently referred to him as his friend. Hoggard is one of seven ex-Yorkshire players charged with using racist words against Rafiq, with a CDC criminal hearing set to commence on Nov. 28, with the proceedings in a historic first.

Exclusively BY MATT HUGHES: In which the ECB's submission to the Cricket Discipline Commission last month, the governing body said that a public hearing would have a 'chilling' and'stifling' effect on police misconduct before going on to demolish several of Rafiq's assertions in his application to the CDC. The ECB strongly opposed Michael Vaughan's appeal for the disciplinary hearing of seven ex-Yorkshire players, including Michael Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, on September 30th, but the CDC refused to intervene in a preliminary hearing on the matter on October 15th. The CDC obliged Rafiq's request yesterday, as revealed by Sportsmail, with a public hearing set to begin on November 28th.

BY MATT HUGHES (exclusive): Sportmail has learned that the Cricket Discipline Commission [CDC], which also includes former England players Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, and Gary Ballance, informed all parties on Wednesday that the trial of seven ex-Yorkshire players charged with using racist words against Azeem Rafiq, which also includes former England players Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, and Gary Ballance, will begin on Tuesday, with adoutput: The ECB had argued against breaking convention by holding the hearing in public on the grounds that much of the evidence they collected has been obtained in private and could not be admissible, but the CDC has rejected this and ruled in favour of Azeem Rafiq, who has pushed for an open hearing throughout. Tim O'Gorman, a former Derbyshire bowler, was fortnight ago, but legal arguments over whether the full hearing should be open were dominated by legal arguments, with the three-person CDC panel confirming their decision on Wednesday.

On Monday, the long-running inquiry into suspected racism at Yorkshire is set to begin in a preliminary disciplinary hearing, which may lead to chaos and possibly to complete failure. Former England captain Michael Vaughan, Ashes champion Matthew Hoggard and coach Andrew Gale, as well as the club itself, have filed a petition to have it held in public. Hearings are normally held behind closed doors, but the two-day preliminaries will encourage responses from respondents, and it appears that Yorkshire's new regime is supportive of Rafiq's wishes, who has requested that evidence be investigated in the open in June.

Exclusive BY MATT HUGHES: Azeem Rafiq has been given a 10-day deadline to decide whether or not he will attend the ECB's multicultural tribunal, which could result in the cases being dismissed out. Sportsmail revealed last month that the former Yorkshire off-spinner has warned not to appear until the Cricket Discipline Commission hearing into misconduct allegations against seven of his former colleagues takes place in public, a request that the ECB is resonantly rejecting. The ECB has alerted all parties that a preliminary hearing will take place on October 17 and 18th, where former Derbyshire bowler Tim O'Gorman will hear legal arguments from both sides before determining whether the full hearing will be held in public or behind closed doors.

ATT HUGHES: BY MATT HUGHES: Azeem Rafiq has written to the ECB, asking that the disciplinary hearings involving seven former Yorkshire players on racial charges be held in public. Following allegations that they used racist words against Rafiq, the Cricket Discipline Commission [CDC] is set to meet next month. Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, and Tim Bresnan were charged with misconduct by the ECB, including former England internationals Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, and Tim Bresnan. The CDC normally meet in private before determining their decision and publishing written reasons, but it is reported that Rafiq wrote to the ECB last week, asking for a public hearing.

However, the desire to make touring the country feel more 'normal' has made the Pakistan Cricket Board able to take the financial burden, just as they did in the spring when Australia was in the country for Test and white-ball series. Following the ambush of the Sri Lankan team bus by terrorists in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan has been starving for international matches for a decade.

According to sources, England could have their Twenty20 World Cup preparations significantly hampered due to several of their participants being asked to testify in the Yorkshire racial tribunal shortly before the tournament begins. The tribunal is set to take place in October, when England's squad is due to jet off to Australia ahead of their World Cup opener against Afghanistan against Afghanistan on October 22. According to The Telegraph, the lawsuit, which stemmed from former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq's allegations, will be heard by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC), and could result in them wanting to consult leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

Exclusive BY MATT HUGHES Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, and Gary Ballance have all been charged with using racist words against Azeem Rafiq, as have former Yorkshire players Richard Pyrah and John Blain, although former Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale has declined to comply with a procedure he has described as a witch hunt. The six other defendants, including Vaughan, deny the charges and insist they will mount a slew of defence, with their legal teams likely to launch their defense by pointing out suspected errors in the ECB's probe. Sportsmail has learned that some potentially vital witnesses will be unable to testify because they have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements by Yorkshire, although other key witnesses are currently out of the country and therefore unable to testify in person.