Michael Vaughan battling to save reputation as Rashid backs Rafiq claims

Michael Vaughan is battling to save his reputation ahead of the evidence session in parliament on Tuesday where Azeem Rafiq will outline his experiences of racism at Yorkshire and has English cricket braced for the names that could emerge.

The lead-up to Rafiq’s appearance in front of a digital, culture, media and sport select committee hearing suggests a potentially explosive day in store, with Vaughan on Monday once again denying he told four Asian-heritage teammates “there’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it” before a Twenty20 match in 2009. This came in response to Yorkshire and England’s Adil Rashid becoming the second cricketer after Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to corroborate Rafiq’s memories of the incident.

In a statement issued via The Cricketer, Rashid said: “Racism is a cancer in all walks of life and unfortunately in professional sports, too, and is something which, of course, has to be stamped out. I wanted to concentrate as much as possible on my cricket and avoid distractions to the detriment of the [England] team [during the T20 World Cup], but I can confirm Azeem Rafiq’s recollection of Michael Vaughan’s comment to a group of us Asian players.”

Vaughan, the former Ashes-winning England captain whose role as a BBC Sport pundit now hangs in the balance, released a statement in response that said: “I categorically deny saying the words attributed to me by Azeem Rafiq and want to re-state this publicly because the ‘you lot’ comment simply never happened.”

The 47-year-old pointed to footage of a seemingly amiable team huddle before the match at Trent Bridge and the fact that Ajmal Shahzad, the fourth Asian-heritage player in the team, has previously said he has no recollection of it. Vaughan also highlighted a line in his autobiography that year in which he cited the emergence of players from the Asian community as “the shape of things to come” and “a good thing” for Yorkshire.

Rashid’s statement, which added he was “encouraged by the fact that a parliamentary committee seems to be trying to improve the situation”, represents the first endorsement for one of Rafiq’s allegations by a current England player and came shortly after Rafiq declared on Twitter that it was “time for truths”. Rafiq, who last week settled his employment case with Yorkshire without having to sign a non-disclosure agreement, posted the message while travelling to London for his session in front of MPs and his allegations go much further than one incident.

The 30-year-old will be first to speak to the cross-party panel chaired by Julian Knight – his appearance starts at 9.30am – and is covered by parliamentary privilege, meaning he can detail his experiences of racism during two spells at Headingley between 2008 and 2018, as well as name individuals involved, without fear of legal reprisal.

After Rafiq comes a session featuring representatives from Yorkshire, although, as it stands, only Roger Hutton, the chair who resigned 10 days ago, was on the official list 24 hours out. Mark Arthur stood down as chief executive last week, while Martyn Moxon, the director of cricket, is on sick leave. Wayne Morton, head of medical services at Headingley, was previously down to attend but his name has also been removed.

As such, it may be that beyond Hutton outlining the club’s handling of Rafiq’s myriad claims – its 12-month investigation and the resulting report that remains unpublished – plus the resistance this met internally, Yorkshire do not push back too greatly.

Lord Kamlesh Patel, the new chair of Yorkshire, has hailed Rafiq as a “whistleblower” and set up a hotline at Headingley for any past or current employees to detail similar experiences. Reacting to Rashid’s statement on Monday, Patel said he welcomed the “courage” shown and hoped to speak to the leg-spinner about his experiences.

Along with Rafiq and Yorkshire, the England and Wales Cricket Board will also give evidence. Tom Harrison, the chief executive, and Barry O’Brien, the interim chair, could face significant heat after Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said the governing body would not be “fit for purpose” if it failed to take action. The ECB has already suspended Yorkshire from hosting international cricket until it has clearly demonstrated that it can “meet the standards expected of an international venue, ECB member and First Class County” and warned that further sanctions – including financial ones – could follow at the end of its own probe.

Change has begun at Yorkshire. As well as Arthur’s resignation and Moxon’s current period off for a stress-related illness – which is expected to be followed by the 61-year-old’s departure – the head coach Andrew Gale has been suspended as the club probes an anti-semitic tweet he posted 11 years ago.

Rafiq’s 14-month campaign has also sparked a wave of similar historical allegations across county cricket, with Essex confirming on Monday that a second former player, since confirmed as Maurice Chambers, had come forward with a complaint. Last week John Faragher stepped down as the club’s chair after being accused of using a racist phrase at a board meeting in 2017 – an allegation he has since denied.

Chambers, a Jamaican-born fast bowler who played for Essex between 2005 and 2013, told The Cricketer that a senior teammate used to pointedly offer him bananas and a coach would read out racist jokes in a dressing room. The 34-year-old detailed other such incidents and said this continued when he joined Northamptonshire.

John Stephenson, the newly arrived Essex chief executive, praised Chambers’s bravery and said the club would investigate thoroughly despite the two former teammates and coach that are central to the allegations having since left Chelmsford. Chambers said he was inspired by Rafiq to speak up and he is unlikely to be the last.

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