Azeem Rafiq has warned that cricket remains "very much in denial" over racism within the sport, stating that since he delivered his harrowing testimony in front of MPs in November 2021 "all that's changed really is that me and my family have been driven out of the country".
Rafiq spoke about his experiences of racism within cricket in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee last year and made another appearance in front of MPs on Tuesday, having now relocated to Pakistan with his family as a result of the abuse they have faced since he began speaking out.
"If I was to look at 13 months on from me opening my heart out, all that's changed really is that me and my family have been driven out of the country," he told the committee. "And that's a sad element of it.
"I would love to come here and tell you how much cricket has changed, but unfortunately what it feels like is that cricket is very much in denial. There are still a group of people out there who feel like cricket is the victim in this."
Yorkshire chair Lord Patel also made an appearance in front of the committee and said he felt the ECB's 'regulatory approach is completely flawed'. Patel said: "In an ideal world, independent regulator would be excellent.
"I suppose if I am realistic, the time it would take to put in primary legislation, to set up a system, we'd end up navel-gazing for years. But should the CDC (Cricket Discipline Commission) and the ECB change? Absolutely.
"Having gone through this process, the regulatory approach that the ECB take, that the CDC (take), is completely flawed." Patel added that he felt he had been given no support by the ECB, stating: "If I was attacked in the press or if cricket leaders or previous cricket leaders made unsubstantiated statements, nothing was done.
"I asked in writing, and I have email after email, letter after letter, saying 'you asked me to do this, I've done this, please support me' and I have no response to any of those letters and emails. So it was very distressing.
"I'm looking forward to the new leadership of Richard Thompson, the few meetings I've had with him have been positive and it feels like it's going forward, but these last 12 months, the answer [to the question of whether he has felt supported by the ECB] has to be 'no'."
