After charges against him of bringing cricket into disrepute were dismissed on Friday, Michael Vaughan said in a generally well-judged statement that “there are no winners in this process”. To say that you can only be white and never have experienced the kind of discrimination that made the process necessary.
So let’s be clear: the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) vindicated Azeem Rafiq. Having experienced racism at Yorkshire, having found the proper channels blocked when he tried to act, having his life turned upside down after being forced to go public, he will have wanted, and deserves, for that to be recognised. The panel’s verdict absolutely did establish winners and losers, which is what makes this moment so powerful.
