The ECB ‘wasted’ £60,000 on mock interrogation session focused on Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations

The ECB spent £60,000 on practice ‘interrogation’ sessions to prepare for their car-crash parliamentary select committee hearing on Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations, Sportsmail can reveal.

The splurge came just seven weeks after announcing 62 redundancies last winter to ‘safeguard cricket’s long-term future’ in light of Covid — and more ECB job cuts have been earmarked before this Christmas, it is understood.

Rafiq opened up about being called a ‘P**i’ and racially abused over eight years at Yorkshire at a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport hearing last November.

The ECB board’s payment to a law firm is said to have been for conducting a mock hearing, in which then-chief executive Tom Harrison and colleagues practised facing questions expected to mirror those of DCMS chief Julian Knight MP.

It did not go to plan. Harrison had intended to make a pre-rehearsed speech at the hearing, in the hope of avoiding questioning — a tactic thought to have been planned in the sessions — but Knight blocked him from doing so.

Knight told Sportsmail: ‘It’s incredible such money should be spent in such preparation. Frankly, it didn’t do them much good — they should ask for a refund.’

Sportsmail understands the ECB have also spent more than £1million on racism-related probes in the past 12 months. That sum could exceed £1.5m by the end of the year with ‘no end in sight’ in some cases.

Ex-ECB chief executive Tom Harrison wanted to practice facing questions he was likely to face

It is believed at least £500,000 has been spent on a law team and the Cricket Discipline Commission in relation to the Rafiq investigation. 

The probe has proven costly, with many of the seven charged ex-Yorkshire employees hiring high-profile legal teams to battle the accusations, which has dragged the matter out even further.

The investigation is expected to run well into the new year.

Cindy Butts’ Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report, which is due this year, has also been expensive, with the five employed commissioners collectively being paid around £10,000 a day.

Also, there are fears within the organisation as to the scale of the impending job cuts, which Sportsmail understands are inevitable before year’s end during a time of real financial constraint.

Last winter, the ECB cut 62 jobs as a result of the Covid-19 impact on finances.

Julian Knight, Chair of the DCMS interrogated ECB staff about Rafiq’s racism claims

Their emergency financial reserves have since dwindled from £75m to around £22m and in a recent statement, interim chairman Martin Darlow admitted that inflationary pressures and cost of living crisis could have a ‘significant’ effect on the game’s finances.

The annual £2.2m received from Sport England for the grassroots game, which has been previously marked out by MPs as needing to be cut in light of the Rafiq affair, could also again be at risk.

An ECB spokesperson said: ‘Where issues need investigating, we make no apology for doing so thoroughly and this does cost money.

‘It is also right to invest in the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket so we can identify the action we need to remove barriers to people getting involved in our sport.’