Former England skipper Michael Vaughan remains the sole individual summoned to face a disciplinary hearing over racism allegations made by his former Yorkshire teammate, Azeem Rafiq, next month.
On Tuesday, the England and Wales Cricket Board declared that Richard Pyrah, former Yorkshire player and bowling coach, has declined to attend, joining Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, and John Blain in opting out of the proceedings.
Despite their absence, the independent cricket discipline commission panel will proceed to hear the charges against the five individuals.
Gary Ballance, the other individual charged, has confessed to using racially discriminatory language and will not be present at the hearing. The ECB stated that the former England batsman, who recently made a Test hundred on his Zimbabwe debut, has admitted the charges.
The ECB also announced that Yorkshire has admitted to four charges, which means no one from the club will have to appear before the panel.
In September 2020, Rafiq first made allegations of racism and bullying related to his two stints at Yorkshire. Despite a club report finding that Rafiq had faced “racial harassment and bullying,” no player or employee faced disciplinary action, leading to widespread criticism.
Pakistan-born Rafiq claimed that Vaughan had told him and a group of Asian-ethnicity players during a huddle before a Yorkshire match in 2009, “There are too many of you lot. We need to do something about it.” England’s Adil Rashid and Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan have backed Rafiq’s account of the incident, but Vaughan has consistently dismissed the allegations.
Read more:
