Former ECB chairman Colin Graves accuses Julian Knight of blocking election to the Yorkshire board

Former ECB chairman Colin Graves has accused Conservative MP Julian Knight of interfering with the running of Yorkshire by blocking his election to the Board this summer and instructing the governing body to remove their right to stage Test matches at Headingley last year. 

Yorkshire chairman Lord Kamlesh Patel told a Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee this week that Graves had not been permitted join the Board at Headingley as one of two representatives of the membership, but did not specify who had blocked his return.

Graves was astounded by Patel’s claim and told Sportsmail that both the Yorkshire chairman and acting ECB chairman, Martin Darlow, had assured him he could stand for election at Headingley. The 74-year-old businessman was interviewed for the role last summer in a process led by Yorkshire president Geoff Cope, but was unsuccessful.

Former ECB chairman Colin Graves (pictured) made accusations over his recent application

Graves suggested Julian Knight (pictured) blocked his election to the Yorkshire board

Graves has taken umbrage at Patel’s suggestion that he was unable to join the Board of a club who owe his family trust over £15million. Patel has not returned several messages from Graves on the subject over the past few days, whereas Darlow has denied any involvement from the ECB, leading Graves to conclude that any instruction came from Knight, who has taken a close interest in Yorkshire due to his position as chair of the DCMS Committee.

Knight did not chair this week’s Committee hearing into racism in cricket, as he was stripped of the Conservative whip last week after a complaint about him was made to the Metropolitan Police. The 50-year-old denies any wrongdoing and claims he is being blackmailed.

‘I spoke to Martin Darlow and Kamlesh Patel twice last summer and they both said I was welcome to re-join the Yorkshire Board,’ Graves told Sportsmail. ‘They both said there was no problem whatsoever.

‘This appears to have changed, as Kamlesh told the DCMS Committee that he’d been told I couldn’t rejoin the Board. Who told him that? It certainly wasn’t the ECB.

Graves pictured with England captain Joe Root after a Test match with Ireland

‘I spoke to Martin Darlow this morning and he assured me he gave no such instructions, which would have been entirely inappropriate anyway. I’ve not heard back from Kamlesh, despite sending him two text messages and an email, and want to know who gave him those orders.

‘If it wasn’t the ECB, then it points towards Julian Knight and DCMS. That would be government interference in a national sport over the head of the ECB and Yorkshire, which is clearly a breach of the regulations.’

Graves claims Knight has interfered in the ECB and Yorkshire’s affairs before by giving them an ultimatum to remove international matches from Headingley to punish for the club for their handling of Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations. Yorkshire were stripped of Test matches last November, but regained them after committing to introduced governance reforms, including the election of two new Board members, a position Graves sought but was denied.

‘This has happened before,’ Graves said. ‘I know for a fact that Julian Knight’s office rang the ECB on 4th November, 2021, and told them that if Yorkshire weren’t sanctioned by 6pm that evening then the ECB’s government funding would be jeopardised. The ECB announced that Yorkshire would lose their international matches at around 5pm that day.’The ECB and Knight declined to comment.