AZEEM RAFIQ has been suspended by Yorkshire following his foul-mouthed Twitter rant at England under-19s coach John Abrahams.

The 19-year-old off spinner will be unavailable for selection pending a full investigation by the club.

Rafiq, left out of the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Scarborough this week, referred to Abrahams as a “useless ******”.

He wrote: “What a ****ing farsee [sic]... John Abrahams is a useless ****... ECB prove it again what incompetent people are working for them!!

John Abrahams is a useless ******.”

Rafiq, from Barnsley, deleted the comments when he realised they were able to be viewed by the public.

He is understood to have broken mid-match curfews during the first Test at Northampton last week, a fixture in which he captained England to a 199-run win.

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan said: “Azeem’s behaviour was totally unacceptable, the club will not tolerate it.

“Our professional players are role models to aspiring young cricketers and need to behave as such.

“While Azeem has apologised formally to the ECB, the club and the coach in question, the club still intend to carry out a full investigation before deciding on what disciplinary action to take.

“In the meantime, he is suspended on full pay and unavailable for selection.”

It is not the first time that Rafiq, who has played two Championship matches this season, has been at the centre of controversy.

Although not his fault, the White Rose were thrown out of the 2008 Twenty20 Cup for failing to register him properly.

Other Yorkshire players with their own Twitter pages include captain Andrew Gale, Jacques Rudolph, Tim Bresnan and Rich Pyrah.

England players Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson are regular users of Twitter, while Bresnan was forced to apologise during the Champions Trophy last September after ranting at a fan who had doctored an image to make him look fat.

Regan will be issuing a policy document to all players at Yorkshire warning them about their use of such sites.

“Using these kind of sites to pass opinion on controversial issues surrounding their jobs will not be accepted,”

commented Regan, who will leave his Headingley position at the end of September to become the new chief executive at the Scottish Football Association.

England Test captain Andrew Strauss had his say: “Players should be aware that what they write is going to be seen by people they might not want it to be seen by.

“There is a right way to react to things and a wrong way. Venting your frustration is not the right way to do it, especially if you have been in the wrong. You need to take it on the chin and learn from it.

Otherwise, there are plenty of other people who can do better than you.”

■ For all Yorkshire’s news and match updates, follow the Northern Echo’s own cricket feed on: www.twitter.com/tykestravels