Yorkshire cricket racism hearing: Rafiq ‘clearly’ recalls alleged Vaughan comment

Azeem Rafiq says he “clearly” recalls Michael Vaughan making an alleged racist comment in 2009 despite discrepancies in his evidence.

At a hearing into allegations of racism at Yorkshire on Thursday, the cross-examination of Rafiq by Vaughan’s lawyer focused on why the claim appeared with different wording in other statements.

Rafiq told an independent investigation commissioned by Yorkshire that Vaughan had said: “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”

When asked by Vaughan’s lawyer Christopher Stoner KC why there is a discrepancy, Rafiq said: “I don’t have an explanation at all.”

He added it was a “clear mistake” in his statement and interview with law firm Squire Patton Boggs during the initial investigation and that he takes “full responsibility” for it.

However, he said he wanted to make it “very clear” that Vaughan did say the phrase “there’s too many of you lot” and that is the “discriminatory” part of the comment.

“The comment on the day clearly stands out and it still hurts,” he said.

He added the version of the comment “we need to have a word about that” is the correct one, which he first said in an interview with Wisden in August 2020 – without initially naming Vaughan – then repeated during the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) investigation.

Vaughan, who is set to give evidence at the hearing on Friday, “completely and categorically” denies the allegation.

England spinner Adil Rashid and former Yorkshire and Pakistan bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan have corroborated the allegation.

The fourth player in the group, former England bowler Ajmal Shahzad had said he has no recollection of it.

Rashid ‘not pressured’ by Rafiq

Giving evidence via video link from Bangladesh, where he is playing for England in a one-day international series, Rashid said he had never been “pressured” by Rafiq into corroborating the allegation against Vaughan.

Rashid released a statement on 15 November 2021 via journalist George Dobell in The Cricketer magazine which, as Vaughan’s lawyer pointed out, was “well over a year” after Rafiq’s allegations were first made.

Under questioning from Stoner, Rashid confirmed he heard Vaughan make the alleged comment but does not believe he is a racist and that it was a “poor attempt at humour”.

In an interview with the ECB, a transcript of which was shown in the hearing, Shahzad said he felt Rashid was “being pressurised” by Rafiq.

Speaking of a conversation with Rashid, Shahzad told the ECB: “[Rashid] was very uncomfortable with where this was going. He wanted to nip it in the bud sooner rather than later because quite frankly he was uncomfortable with how much Rafiq knew about Adil.”

He continued in the interview to say: “And at some point [Rafiq] was capable of, you know, using something that he knew about [Rashid] personally against him.”

Rashid denied any recollection of this conversation, and also denied claims made in a witness statement by former Yorkshire head of HR Liz Neto.

Neto alleged Rashid had been “distressed” during phone calls and indicated to her that he was being pressured to corroborate Rafiq’s allegations, adding he had said he had told Rafiq “no matter how many times you tell me I heard it Azeem, I cannot remember hearing it”.

“I did not say that. I think she is confused with that situation,” Rashid told the hearing, repeatedly stating he “wasn’t pressured by Azeem”.

The hearing revealed Rashid and Rafiq had been business partners after opening a fish and chip shop in October 2021, which closed a year later.

However, Rashid said they signed paperwork and got the keys “way before” any of Rafiq’s allegations came to light in August 2020.

More to follow.