Herman Ouseley, the chairman of football’s Kick it Out campaign and a prominent opponent of racism in sport, has described the punishment handed down to Somerset’s Craig Overton as “outrageous” and questioned the message it has sent to cricket.
Overton, as revealed by the Guardian on Thursday, was heard telling Sussex’s Pakistan-born all-rounder Ashar Zaidi to “go back to your own fucking country” during a county match at Hove in September, with the cricket discipline commission going on to hand down a level one breach – the lowest in the directives.
While Zaidi told match officials he had not been aware of the alleged abuse, which Overton also subsequently denied, both the umpire Alex Wharf and the Sussex batsman Michael Yardy – who was at the non-striker’s end – detailed the incident in writing, with their evidence forwarded on to the discipline commission by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Lord Ouseley believes that the words reported by Wharf and Yardy clearly go beyond the eventual level one breach that was issued and meant Overton had triggered an automatic two-match suspension because of previous disciplinary breaches on his record; had it been clean, a simple reprimand would have followed.
While the more serious level three breach, the first of the four in the ECB directives that covers racist language, would not have seen the size of Overton’s automatic ban increase, Ouseley claims it should still have been applied and a further sanction added, as is possible with any level of breach. Ouseley told the Guardian: “My personal view would be that it seems quite outrageous; that the punishment does not fit the offence and that clearly at least a category three sanction should have been applied in this instance. It’s not only serious abuse and misconduct, it is clearly racially offensive.
“I would expect that, if it was in football, that person would be getting a very heavy sanction. If cricket wants to maintain a reputation of credibility it should nip something like this in the bud and make it clear that it is not going to tolerate it.
“If a decision seems quite outrageously wrong, then the ECB could appeal and that goes to another panel. In appealing, and voicing its displeasure at the verdict, it can send the message that there should be zero tolerance of such discriminatory conduct.”
While Overton was withdrawn from the match by Somerset after the incident on day one, he was still named as part of the England performance programme – their winter training camp for players considered next in line for international selection – two days after the incident took place and two days before the CDC announced its verdict. The ECB has denied any interference and maintained its satisfaction at the decision reached by the commission, citing the body’s independent status. But Ouseley has questioned whether Overton’s inclusion in an international training camp was appropriate, while also querying how umpires will view the result of his case.
“If the ECB felt the decision was not one that helped them promote the game in a non-discriminatory way, it shouldn’t give encouragement to the individual through being selected to go on tour and representing the country. There are all sorts of issues here that could be challenged. The message it sends to umpires is also not a good one; it suggests that, even if they report such types of abuse – as the official in this instance did – a proper sanction does not follow. It might lead them to question if it is worth doing so in future.”
Yorkshire, meanwhile, are understood to have sought clarification from the ECB over the handling of the Overton case, after their own captain, Andrew Gale, was banned for four matches in 2014 for telling Lancashire’s South African batsman, Ashwell Prince, to “fuck off back to your own country, you Kolpak fucker”.
Gale was found to have committed a level two breach that triggered an automatic two-match ban for having previous offences on his record, only for a further two games to be added after the ECB requested further action be taken. Privately the club believe double standards to be at play, although the ECB insists the two incidents differ greatly in circumstance.
Yorkshire’s head coach, Jason Gillespie, told the Guardian: “As a club we are not commenting but speaking personally, I would be surprised if the ECB didn’t look into this a bit further.”
