Request granted: Azeem Rafiq
(Picture: AP)This month’s hearing into the racism scandal at Yorkshire is to be held in public after the ECB’s Cricket Disciplinary Commission granted a request from key witness Azeem Rafiq.
The CDC typically hears cases in private but Rafiq wrote to the body asking for maximum transparency in the proceedings after it was announced this summer that Yorkshire CC and a number of individuals had been charged over allegations made by the 31-year-old and the way they were handled.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan is among those charged and according to The Telegraph, for whom he is a columnist, is “happy for the proceedings to be held in public and will appear in person to defend himself”.
Vaughan, who strongly denies the allegations, is accused by Rafiq of having told a group of Asian players ahead of a T20 match in 2009 that “there are too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”. Current England spinner Adil Rashid issued a statement last year supporting Rafiq’s claim.
Former Yorkshire coach and captain Andrew Gale, another of those charged, has already stated he will not be engaging with the process, having been sacked by the county last year.
Rafiq’s allegations rocked the sport, with the ex-Yorkshire player offering a devastating account in front of a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee in November last year. Another DCMS session is set to take place in December to examine the sport’s response to the scandal.
