The chair of Essex County Cricket Club has resigned with immediate effect following an allegation of using racist language at a board meeting in 2017.

John Faragher stepped down following a meeting of the board on Thursday evening.

Essex County Cricket Club said it does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will immediately consider further steps the club must take.

Faragher strongly denies the incident, however a review will take place into why it was not fully and independently investigated at the time.

Newly-appointed Essex cricket chief executive, John Stephenson, who took over the club in October, said: “There is no place for discrimination of any kind at Essex County Cricket Club.

“This is a proud club with a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination and, as Essex cricket’s new chief executive officer, I will not hesitate to uphold those principles and drive out any form of discrimination that is uncovered.

“I was made aware of this single allegation on Thursday having joined the club four weeks ago. The board met last night [Thursday] during which John Faragher’s resignation was unanimously accepted.

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“We are committed to working with the England & Wales Cricket Board to eradicate discrimination from the game.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has opened an investigation into the incident after a complaint was initially taken up with the governing body.

This was not the case when Azeem Rafiq alleged institutional racism at Yorkshire, with the original complaint being taken up with the county and not the ECB.

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