Done deal - Colin Graves officially back at Yorkshire CCC

At a board meeting at Headingley on Thursday afternoon, where snow fell over the famous old stadium, the club was thus able to appoint Graves, firstly, as a non-executive director.

On Friday, another board meeting will appoint him chair - a position he last held in 2015 before leaving to become chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) until 2020.

FCA approval - believed to have come late on Wednesday afternoon - arrived several days ahead of anticipated schedule, allowing Graves to get cracking with plans to rescue the club for a second time, having pulled it back from the financial precipice in the early 2000s.

His refinancing deal is expected to plough some £5m into the club during the next five months as Yorkshire tackle debts and borrowings of circa £22m, banishing the threat of administration/insolvency that had hung heavy in the air.

And so, after more than a year of refinancing talks, meetings and conjecture, there will be no Saudi Arabian princes taking charge of the club, no sightings of Mike Ashley landing his helicopter on the Headingley sward, or of Yorkshire changing their name to Yorkshire Super Kings or the Yorkshire Knight Riders any time soon.

Graves will head a 10-strong board which, for the time being at least, will consist of three new arrivals in Phillip Hodson, Sanjay Patel and Sanjeev Gandhi, along with existing directors Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Leslie Ferrar, as well as chief executive Stephen Vaughan and managing director of cricket Darren Gough.

John Jackson and Richard Levin, the two member representatives, have stood down and the club said that the process to replace them would be launched “very shortly”.

Graves, who not only won the support of the Yorkshire members but also fought off efforts by a minority of politicians and activists to stop him returning, given that his previous time at the club coincided with parts of the racism crisis, said that he was thrilled to be back.

“It is an honour and privilege to be appointed and be back at Yorkshire CCC,” said Graves in a statement.

“I will work tirelessly with the board to resolve the financial position in which the club currently finds itself, and to restore financial stability and sustainability to Yorkshire cricket for generations to come.

“Equally, it is my personal pledge to members and to the entire Yorkshire public that, regardless of background, community or ethnicity, all will be welcome in the fully inclusive culture and environment of The Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

"There will never be any exceptions.

“I have unreservedly apologised for any, and all mistakes either I or the club has made over the painful and difficult years of the recent past.

"Lessons have been learned and will continue to be acted on as we move forward and focus on the future of our great club.

"Yorkshire CCC will become a sporting institution of which everyone can be proud.”

Stephen Vaughan commented: “We are pleased to welcome Colin to the board at The Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

“I, along with the rest of the board, take our responsibility very seriously. The board are custodians of the club and we are mindful of the responsibility that comes with it.

“We are pleased that members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the rule changes enabling Colin’s appointment to the board, and in doing so protecting the future of Yorkshire, and we look forward to him taking the club forward.

“Colin will be able to draw on significant experience, both as a former ECB chair and as a former chair of the club whose financial assistance was essential in safeguarding the club’s ongoing existence some years ago, and has continued to support the club in recent times.”

Prior to Graves’s return, Harry Chathli stepped down as chair along with fellow board members Lucy Amos, Nolan Hough, Yaseen Mohammed, Kavita Singh and Trevor Strain as part of the refinancing process.