YORKSHIRE have played out a tame, rain-affected draw with Gloucestershire in Division Two of the LV= Insurance County Championship.
That meant the most worthy thing of note was head coach Ottis Gibson's quotes after the game about the sanctions the club are facing.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has recommended Yorkshire are hit with a £500,000 fine (with £350,000 suspended for three years) and hefty points deductions across all formats this season over their handling of the Azeem Rafiq case.
Gibson reflected: “If you remember when I came here in March last year and this whole investigation was going on, I said, ‘It would be nice of them to let us know before the start of the season what sanctions there were going to be’. We’re sat here the following June and we’re still not sure what it is or isn’t.
“It’s frustrating because a lot of change has taken place here at Yorkshire, including myself being here.
“I feel like when this thing all started many years ago, long before I got here, the club was stripped of international cricket because of what had gone on. Then the ECB said, ‘If you want international cricket back, you have to satisfy us that you’re doing these things’. They gave the club a list of things, and Lord Patel came in and made some tough and uncomfortable decisions I would imagine.
“We got our international cricket back, which would seem to me to suggest that we’d satisfied the ECB and done the things they asked us to do in the first place.
“So to sanction a group of people who are trying to move the club forward doesn’t seem to me to make sense.
“It would be naive to think that we’re not going to get some sort of punishment, but it does seem a bit harsh.”
As for the four-day game, Yorkshire hit 550-9 batting first, as young trio Fin Bean (114), Matt Revis (104) and George Hill (101) all made three figures.
Gloucestershire were bowled out for 464, on-loan spinner Dan Moriarty taking 5-139.
Yorkshire made 200-6 declared second time around, with no chance for Gloucestershire to bat again yesterday.
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