Lord Patel, the Yorkshire chair, has admitted the club would have gone bankrupt had it not been cleared to host the third Test, which got under way beneath a blazing sun at Headingley on Thursday.
Yorkshire were originally suspended from hosting international cricket last November as the ECB investigated Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of racism at the club. Lord Patel’s appointment was approved the following day and with extensive and often controversial changes to staffing and practices introduced the ban was provisionally lifted in February. This Test was confirmed only after members overwhelmingly ratified Patel’s proposed changes at an extraordinary general meeting on 31 March.
