English cricket’s biggest franchise sale has become the subject of fresh governance scrutiny after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) began reviewing a multimillion-pound consultancy payment connected to Yorkshire’s sale of the Northern Superchargers. According to a report by The Guardian‘s Matt Hughes and Ali Martin, the governing body is examining a £1.75 million (approx. US$2.31 million) payment made to SMP73 Ltd, a company controlled by Yorkshire Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Patel, to determine whether any regulations were breached.
Review focuses on consultancy payment
The payment was disclosed in Yorkshire’s 2025 financial accounts and related to consultancy work undertaken during the sale of the Northern Superchargers franchise. Although the ECB has not opened a formal investigation, the matter is under review and could yet be referred to the independent Cricket Regulator, which oversees governance and disciplinary matters across the professional game.
Yorkshire’s accounts state that the consultancy work had concluded before Patel formally became the club’s Chief Executive Officer. The club also confirmed that SMP73 Ltd had been engaged during 2025, while public Companies House records show Patel is the company’s sole director and holds more than 75% of its shares and voting rights.
Sale transformed Yorkshire’s finances
Yorkshire became the only county to sell its entire stake in a Hundred franchise, receiving around £60 million (approx. US$79.2 million) from the £100 million (approx. US$132 million) Northern Superchargers transaction with Indian media conglomerate Sun Group.
The club received approximately £40 million (approx. US$52.8 million) from the sale of its own 51% stake, while a further £20 million (approx. US$26.4 million) came through its share of the ECB’s sale of the remaining 49%. The balance of the ECB’s proceeds was distributed among non-Hundred counties and the wider domestic game.
Yorkshire sources maintained that Patel was not employed by the club when the consultancy arrangements were agreed. They said he had been engaged as an independent consultant with responsibility for brokering the franchise sale and that the final £100 million valuation comfortably exceeded the performance targets required for the commission to become payable.
Patel’s previous ECB role adds context
Before joining Yorkshire, Patel spent nine years at the ECB, serving as Chief Commercial Officer and playing a leading role in the development of the Hundred. He also became the competition’s first Managing Director, a position he held for almost five years after its launch in 2019.
Patel was also among a small group of senior ECB executives who shared bonus payments worth around £2.1 million (approx. US$2.77 million) in 2022. At the time, the ECB said those payments were intended to retain key senior leaders rather than reward work specifically linked to the Hundred.
Financial recovery follows difficult period
The proceeds from the franchise sale significantly strengthened Yorkshire’s financial position after several years of economic uncertainty. The club repaid more than £25 million (approx. US$33 million) owed to the family trust of Chair Colin Graves, having previously faced severe cashflow pressures and the risk of insolvency.
During the latter stages of the 2024 domestic season, Yorkshire relied on advances of ECB central funding to meet player salary commitments. The improved financial position following the Hundred transaction has since eased those immediate concerns.
The club has also dealt with governance and disciplinary challenges in recent years, including a £400,000 (approx. US$528K) fine and a 48-point County Championship deduction after being found guilty of racism and discrimination relating to complaints made by former spinner Azeem Rafiq. More recently, former Deputy Chair Phillip Hodson received a £1,000 (approx. US$1.32K) fine and a reprimand after the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Panel ruled that comments made during an after-dinner speech breached anti-discrimination regulations.
The ECB has not commented publicly on the review, and no formal regulatory investigation has been announced at this stage.
