public hearing Yorkshire The racism trial will resume on Tuesday after three days of dramatic testimony last week.
The Cricket Disciplinary Commission panel listened privately to the latest submissions on Monday as they discussed whether it was obsolete. England Captain Michael Vaughan made a racist remark to his former Yorkshire teammate Azeem Rafik and three other Asian players in 2009.
Vaughan allegedly told Rafiq, Adil RashidAjmal Shahzad and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan “have too many of you” ahead of Yorkshire’s T20 against Nottinghamshire.
The 48-year-old “totally and categorically” denied the allegation and was questioned Friday by Jane Mulcahy KC, a lawyer for the England and Wales Cricket Board.
However, Vaughan apologized for some of the “disgusting” historical tweets that surfaced in 2021, which Mulcahy said were “in a very similar tone to the allegation”.
British bowler Rashid testified on Thursday via video link from Bangladesh and supported Rafiq’s claim regarding the “you” comment.
But Yorkshire’s former head of HR, Liz Neto, said she believes Rashid was pressured to confirm the accusation.
“That’s not what he told me,” Neto said during cross-examination. “She told me more than once she didn’t remember.”
Vaughan’s lawyer, Christopher Stoner KC, had previously criticized the rigor of the ECB’s investigation and the board’s failure to communicate with other players involved in the match, referees or a Sky camera operator whose footage forms part of the evidence.
Vaughan’s lawyer, Paul Lunt, later revealed that his firm had contacted five of the six other players on the Yorkshire squad that day, all of whom confirmed they had not heard the comment.
Meanwhile, Rafiq was accused of threatening to play his “race card” by Matthew Wood, a former personal development manager at the Professional Cricketers’ Association while discussing a new contract with Yorkshire.
Vaughan described the entire process as a “horrible outlook” for cricket, and described how his health and well-being had suffered as a result.
The CDC hearing was called after the ECB indicted Vaughan, six others, and Yorkshire as a club, over allegations first made public by Rafiq in 2020 in June last year.
After five of these individuals – Matthew Hoggard, John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah – chose not to participate, accusations are being heard for their absence.
The other – Gary Ballance – pleaded guilty to using racist and/or discriminatory language, while Yorkshire pleaded not guilty to four charges, including one “not addressing the systematic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over an extended period of time”.
The trial is scheduled to continue closed on Wednesday and Thursday.