England Cricket Board deputy chairman Martin Darlow is reportedly set to become the latest board member of the sport's governing body to vacate his role.
According to the Daily Mail, he is due to be the latest member of the ECB to leave his post amid a host of changes at the organisation. He took the job last September and was scheduled to remain on the board until May 2025.
But earlier today, ECB chairman Richard Thompson reportedly informed the 18 first class counties of his departure. An ECB spokesperson said: "Martin has been an outstanding servant to the game, but he has decided not to seek re-election at this year’s AGM.
"He was due to stand down anyway next year, and given we were already recruiting a number of new Board members he thinks his successor would benefit from joining the newly constituted Board at the same time as the five other new directors." As reported last year, the ECB is looking to fill six non-executive spots on the board. Two executive roles, those of chair and chief executive, have also been changed recently.
Before Thompson arrived as chairman from Surrey in September, Darlow had served as acting chairman of the ECB when the disciplinary charges against former international players Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan were issued amid the ongoing Yorkshire racism enquiry.
In what was deemed as a controversial move by many, Darlow invited Rafiq to the first day of England’s test match with New Zealand last summer, as a guest of honour to the ECB's box at Lord's, just days after the ex-Yorkshire players were charged.
Last week former England captain Vaughan answered questions for over an hour under cross-examination in London after being charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the ECB, an allegation he categorically denies. At the cricket discipline commission hearing, he lashed out at the way he claimed the whole situation had been handled and felt issues could have been solved with a simple chat.
“I felt the whole situation was escalating out of control,” said Vaughan. “I saw what was happening to Azeem and I could see what it was doing to me and my family. It is old-fashioned, but I’ve always thought it best to speak to someone and see if we can sort it out face to face.
“I felt it was getting too big and hurting too many people. I don't think this is the right process to deal with a word v word comment from 14 years ago. It's not been good for anybody. Having team-mates fight it out in public. It's a terrible look for the game."
He reiterated his stance several times that he did not recollect using the phrase “There are too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that” about the Asian players in 2009.
“I consider it to be inconceivable that I would use the words contained in the allegation,” Vaughan said adamantly. “That is not what I’m about.”
