Yorkshire has acknowledged that prior administrations erased papers relating to claims of racism against the club.

The county refused to speculate on who was responsible but claimed that documents were destroyed before outgoing chairman Lord Patel took office.

On Wednesday, a Cricket Discipline Commission hearing is scheduled to start in London.

The club will not go after admitting guilt to four modified charges brought by the England and Wales Cricket Board in response to claims made by former player Azeem Rafiq.

Yorkshire has now acknowledged that one of these allegations of defaming the game involves the deletion or destruction of records.

Patel was appointed in November 2021 after Roger Hutton resigned following Yorkshire’s response to the Rafiq racism issue. He will retire at the club’s upcoming annual general meeting in March.

In a statement, Yorkshire said that after November 5, 2021, it was discovered that emails and documents that the club had both electronically and in paper form had been permanently removed from both servers and computers and otherwise destroyed.

“After a careful independent examination, it was determined that records were deleted and destroyed that related to claims of racism and the club’s response to those claims, and that the deletion and destruction occurred before Lord Patel was appointed.

“The club is not willing to speculate publicly as to why this happened, who was responsible for it, or the reason behind it,” it says.

The accusation was made on the grounds that deleting or destroying such records may be “prejudicial to the interests of cricket” or bring the game into disrepute, and the statement further stated that the ECB were “also informed of the position.”

Because there was “no credible defense in these circumstances,” the club conceded the accusation.

Yorkshire also assured members that the deletion of the records did not jeopardize any personal information.

The Cricketer broke the news of the deletion of emails pertaining to allegations of racism against Yorkshire in June of last year.

The Cricket Discipline Commission hearing will take place from March 1–9, but Michael Vaughan, the former captain of England, is the only accused party still scheduled to appear.

Former England bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, former Yorkshire players and coaches Richard Pyrah and John Blain, and former Yorkshire captain and coach Andrew Gale have all withdrew from the process.

Former England and Yorkshire batter Gary Ballance, who now plays for Zimbabwe, has acknowledged responsibility in response to his accusation and will likewise abstain.