Former England captain Michael Vaughan denied making a racist remark when he was skipper of Yorkshire but told the BBC on Saturday he apologises to his accuser ex-team-mate Azeem Rafiq if he was “responsible for any of his hurt”. English cricket has been rocked by revelations of racism from Pakistan-born Rafiq.
He gave harrowing testimony to lawmakers this month in which he said his career had been ended by the racist abuse he received while at leading English county Yorkshire.
These have included an allegation that Vaughan told the now 30-year-old Rafiq and other Yorkshire players of Asian origin there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it” during a county match in 2009.
Then Yorkshire paceman Rana Navedul Hasan, a former Pakistan international, and current Yorkshire and England leg-spinner Adil Rashid have backed Rafiq’s version of events.
The fourth player in the group — bowler Ajmal Shahzad — has told the Daily Mail he had no recollection of the event and “the senior guys were really good to me”.
Vaughan — who has been dropped by the BBC from their broadcasting team for the forthcoming Ashes series in Australia — was adamant he never uttered those words saying, “No I didn’t. No.—AFP
