An independent committee was appointed by the club in November 2021 to investigate allegations of discrimination made by three of the club's former players - Jahid Ahmed, Maurice Chambers and Zoheb Sharif.

The county confirmed they received Katharine Newton KC's report and the independent committee will now inform Essex CCC with the recommended course of action and disciplinary measures that may need to be taken.

Ahmed, who played for Essex between 2003 and 2009, alleges he was called a "curry muncher" and asked whether he was "going to bomb" the club in the days after the 2005 London terrorist attacks.

Essex said in a statement: "Because of the complex nature of the issue, as well as legal matters that may be involved, the independent committee will complete their work before any further statement is issued.

"The club is determined to be fair to all those who have been named in the report.

"The England and Wales Cricket Board have been, and will continue to be, kept fully informed of the process being undertaken by the club."

The club thanked Newton for her "detailed and thorough" work on the report and its recommendations.

"Essex CCC has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and remains committed to eradicating any forms of discrimination within cricket," the club's statement concluded.

"The necessary legal processes are now taking place and a further statement will be issued in due course."

Former fast bowler Ahmed played seven first-class matches during his time at Essex.

Speaking to Sky Sports News in 2021, the 37-year-old also said his voice was mocked and mimicked by both players and some members of the coaching staff and that he felt pressured to attend a team meeting in a pub while he was fasting during Ramadan.

In June 2023, he criticised the process saying he believed it was being deliberately "dragged out" to "protect" one of the individuals accused.

Ahmed said he was given a number of release dates for the Newton report going back as far as September 2022.

Last month, the ECB introduced a new cricket independent regulator overseen by an independent Cricket Regulatory Board - and ring-fenced from the rest of the ECB - which will be responsible for enforcement of regulations and carrying out investigations.

This follows the report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) in June that found racism, sexism and classism is "entrenched" in English cricket.