sport news ECB refusing to fly Rashid back from England one-day matches to attend ... trends now

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The ECB are refusing to fly Adil Rashid back from England’s one-day games in Bangladesh to attend the Yorkshire racism trial next month by making the extraordinary claim that it is too expensive. 

The England leg-spinner has emerged as the ECB's key witness in their case against Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan, who has been accused of using racist language towards former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq, but the governing body are unwilling to make him available at the hearing.

In their formal response to a request for Rashid to give evidence in person the ECB have argued that it would 'disproportionately expensive and time-consuming' to fly Rashid back to England 'to give evidence for a very short period of time.' The Yorkshire hearing is due to take place between 1 and 8 March and clashes with England's one-day and Twenty20 series in Bangladesh, with six matches scheduled between 1 and 14 March. 

The ECB are offering to make Rashid available to attend for a brief period remotely.

The ECB's claims regarding cost and time have been queried by the defendants, as the governing body made a profit of £21.5million last year on a turnover of £303m. Moreover, the case has already dragged on for 15 months, and the ECB have spent around £200,000 on legal fees in bringing charges against Yorkshire and seven former players.