Essex facing fine after being found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute

Essex are set to become the first county sanctioned for failing to deal with historic cases of racism after they were found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute.

Sportsmail has learned that the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission have concluded their hearing into an alleged racist comment by former Essex chairman John Faragher, with the club’s punishment to be revealed this week.

Faragher was forced to resign by new Essex chief executive John Stephenson in November following claims he used the phrase ‘n***** in the woodpile’ during a 2017 board meeting. He denies the accusation.

The club were then charged with failing to investigate the alleged breach of ECB directive 3.3, which governs prejudicial behaviour. 

The ECB’s sanctions will be made against the club rather than Faragher and a heavy fine is their most likely punishment, although a suspended points deduction is also a possibility.

Even such a deduction would be a major blow for Essex as they are facing a second ECB investigation into allegations by three former players — Maurice Chambers, Zoheb Sharif and Jahid Ahmed — that they suffered racist abuse from team-mates and coaching staff while at the club.