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Essex fined £50000 by ECB over discriminatory comments at a board meeting

In a crushing blow to Essex, the county club has been fined £50000 by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after pleading guilty to a couple of charges related to racism made at a board meeting back in 2017.


The case was heard by a discipline commission instituted by the ECB, which found the club guilty of making a racist comment and for their failure to conduct a fair (or any) investigation.


According to a report published in BBC Sports, the fine has been suspended for two years, and the ECB have also cautioned Essex with regard to their conduct.


The disciplinary panel concluded in its proceedings that chief executive John Stephenson had done everything within his "power" to conduct a fair enquiry into the matter but was "thwarted" by "internal division" within the Essex Board.


The panel further added that Essex "failed to uphold the standards expected of" it. It also said that given the inner conflict in the Essex camp, the club's ability to deal with such matters in all honestly "remains unresolved" while stating that the use of such language at a meeting brought the game into massive disrepute.


For the uninitiated, Essex were charged with a breach of Directive 3.3 under the ECB Code of Conduct back in February.


The Directive reads-


"No participant may conduct themself in a manner or do any act or omission at any time which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute."


Essex, meanwhile, have accepted the charge and said that the club will continue to work with the ECB in their fight against discrimination.


"The club has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination," it added.


Former chairman of the club John Faragher denied making a comment, as reported by BBC Sport.

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IPL 2022 | DC vs SRH : Imperious Warner-Powell power Delhi to a 21-run win over Sunrisers

Brilliant knocks from Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran couldn't save Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) from succumbing to their 3rd consecutive defeat as the Delhi Capitals (DC) rode on a power-packed batting onslaught to claim a much-needed win by 21 runs to stay afloat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Chasing 208, SRH once again got off to a poor start courtesy of their struggling skipper Kane Williamson, who played another painstaking knock of 4 off 11 deliveries. It didn't help SRH's cause that an in-form Abhishek Sharma managed just a 6-ball 7. Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Sharma in the 2nd over before Williamson's torturous stay was ended by Anrich Nortje in the 5th over. With just 24 runs in the bank midway through the 5th over, Sunrisers needed a push-on, and in its pursuit, Rahul Tripathi perished. The right-handed batsman miscued an attempted pull off Mitchell Marsh in the 7th over, leaving his side reeling at 37/3. Once again, it was left to Markram and Pooran to take control of the sinking ship. The duo looked in blistering form and ensured that they regularly cleared the fence to keep the scoring rate in check. Markram smashed three sixes and 4 fours during his 25-ball 42 and, along with Pooran, added 60 runs in 5.5 overs. The Proteas batsman eventually holed out to Kuldeep Yadav at long-off during an attempt to loft an off-pace full-length ball from Khaleel. Meanwhile, Pooran took the attack to Kuldeep in his 2nd over, smashing the left-arm wrist spinner for a couple of sixes to get himself going. The southpaw decided to take matters into his hands after Markram's dismissal. He laid onto Nortje, smashing the fast bowler for three sixes in the next two overs. Pooran brought up his 2nd consecutive half-century in 28 deliveries. The Trinidadian was ably helped by Shashank Singh, who came out swinging from the word go. The right-handed batsman smashed a couple of fours in his 6-ball 10 but was eventually dismissed by Shardul Thakur. Sean Abbott didn't last long, leaving Pooran to do all the heavy lifting as the equation boiled down to 55 off 18. He tried his level-best as the southpaw hammered Thakur for a four and a six but eventually perished while trying to do an encore. Shreyas Gopal and Kartik Tyagi wielded their bat against Marsh in the 19th over but ultimately proved inadequate. Epic onslaught from Warner, Pant and Powell spearheaded DC to 207/3 Earlier, a belligerent unbeaten 122-run partnership (off 66 deliveries) between David Warner (92* off 58 deliveries) and Rovman Powell (67* off 35 deliveries) led DC's onslaught against the Sunrisers' attack. Batting first, Delhi got off to a poor start as they lost make-shift opener Mandeep Singh and Mitchell Marsh cheaply in the powerplay. Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the ball hopping corners, delivering 11 consecutive dot balls in a row. He knocked over Mandeep in the first over while Sean Abbott got rid of Marsh with a beautiful slower delivery. These two dismissals proved to be the only thing to savour for Sunrisers bowlers as what followed next was a sustained, brutal onslaught from the bat of Warner, Rishabh Pant and Powell. Warner was at his imperious best against his former franchise, and it was the consistent onslaught which allowed Delhi to post 50+ runs in the powerplay despite the loss of two wickets. The southpaw was particularly brutal against Umran Malik as he cashed in on anything that was short or wide, and he got them in plenty from the young pacer. However, Malik went on to click 157 kmph in the game, which is now the second-fastest delivery in the history of IPL. Warner, who racked up a record 89th half-century in the format, was ably helped by Pant and then Powell. Pant (26 off 16) smashed Shreyas Gopal for three sixes and a four in the 9th over, but the leg-spinner had the last laugh as he knocked back the stumps of DC's captain. Post Pant's wicket, it was the Warner-Powell show. While Warner was at his surgical best, dissecting gaps for fun as he approached his 9th T20 ton, Powell, true to his Caribbean roots, wielded his bat like a sword. The duo hammered 70 runs in the last five, with Powell smashing Malik (0/52 in four) for three fours and six- one of which was bowled at 157 kmph- in the last over to end with 207/3. Amid the carnage, Bhuvi once again proved to be the pick of the bowlers as he gave away just 25 runs for one wicket in four overs. Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals- 207/3 (20) David Warner 92* (58); Rovman Powell 67* (35) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/25 (4), Shreyas Gopal 1/34(3) Sunrisers Hyderabad - 186/8 (20) Nicholas Pooran 62 (34), Aiden Markram 42 (25); Khaleel Ahmed 3/30 (4), Shardul Thakur 2/44 (4) Delhi Capitals won by 21 runs