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EXCLUSIVE: Former ECB Chairman Colin Graves accuses Julian Knight MP of blocking his election to Yorkshire board, ordering cricket’s governing body to remove county’s right to tests
- Colin Graves accused Julian Knight of blocking his election to the Yorkshire board
- The former ECB president was not allowed to join after his application
- Yorkshire chairman Lord Patel did not give a reason for Graves’ rejection
Former ECB Chairman Colin Graves has accused Conservative MP Julian Knight of interfering in the running of Yorkshire by blocking his election to the Board this summer and instructing the governing body to remove his right to stage test matches at Headingley next year. last.
Yorkshire chairman Lord Kamlesh Patel told the Department for Cultural Media and Digital Sports Committee this week that Graves had not been allowed to join the Board at Headingley as one of two member representatives, but did not specify who. had blocked his return.
Graves was stunned by Patel’s claim, telling Sportsmail that he had been assured by both the Yorkshire president and caretaker ECB president Martin Darlow that he could stand in the Headingley election. The 74-year-old businessman was interviewed for the job last summer in a process led by Yorkshire chairman Geoff Cope, but was unsuccessful.
Former ECB Chairman Colin Graves (left) has accused Conservative MP Julian Knight (right) of interfering in the running of Yorkshire by blocking his election to the Board this summer.
Graves has taken offense at Patel’s suggestion that he failed to join the Board of a club that owes his family trust more than £15m. Patel has not returned several messages from Graves on the subject in recent days, while Darlow has denied any ECB involvement, leading Graves to conclude that any instructions came from Knight, who has taken a keen interest in Yorkshire due to his position. as chair of the DCMS Committee.
Knight did not chair this week’s Committee hearing on racism in cricket, having been stripped of the Conservative whip last week after a complaint about him was lodged with the Metropolitan Police. The 50-year-old denies any wrongdoing and claims that he is being blackmailed.
“I spoke to Martin Darlow and Kamlesh Patel twice last summer and they both said I was welcome to rejoin the Yorkshire Board,” Graves told Sportsmail. They both said there was no problem.
‘This appears to have changed as Kamlesh told the DCMS Committee that he had been told I could not rejoin the Board. Who told you that? It certainly wasn’t the ECB.
Graves pictured with England captain Joe Root after a Test match with Ireland
“I spoke to Martin Darlow this morning and he assured me that he gave no such instructions, which would have been completely inappropriate anyway. I haven’t heard from Kamlesh, despite sending him two texts and one email, and I want to know who gave him those orders.
‘If it wasn’t the ECB, then it points to Julian Knight and DCMS. That would be government interference in a national sport above the ECB and Yorkshire, which is clearly a breach of regulations.”
Graves claims Knight has interfered in ECB and Yorkshire affairs before by giving them an ultimatum to scrap Headingley’s international matches to punish the club for its handling of Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations. Yorkshire were stripped of Test matches last November but got them back after pledging to introduce governance reforms, including electing two new Board members, a position Graves sought but was denied.
“This has happened before,” Graves said. “I know for a fact that Julian Knight’s office called the ECB on November 4, 2021 and told them that if Yorkshire were not sanctioned by 6pm that night, the ECB’s government funding would be in jeopardy. The ECB announced that Yorkshire would lose their international matches at around 5:00 p.m. that day. The ECB and Knight declined to comment.