Azeem Rafiq says he “clearly” recalls Michael Vaughan making an alleged racist comment in 2009 despite discrepancies in his evidence.
Ex-England captain Vaughan is accused of saying “there’s too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that” to Rafiq and three other Asian players at Yorkshire before a T20 match.
At a hearing into allegations of racism at Yorkshire on Thursday, the cross-examination of Rafiq by Vaughan’s lawyer focused on why the claim appeared with different wording in other statements.
Rafiq told an independent investigation commissioned by Yorkshire that Vaughan had said: “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”
When asked by Vaughan’s lawyer Christopher Stoner KC why there is a discrepancy, Rafiq said: “I don’t have an explanation at all.”
He added it was a “clear mistake” in his statement and interview with law firm Squire Patton Boggs during the initial investigation and he takes “full responsibility” for it.
However, he said he wanted to make it “very clear” that Vaughan did say the phrase “there’s too many of you lot” and that is the “discriminatory” part of the comment.
“The comment on the day clearly stands out and it still hurts,” he said.
He added the version of the comment “we need to have a word about that” is the correct one, which he first said in an interview with Wisden in August 2020 – without initially naming Vaughan – then repeated during the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) investigation.
Vaughan, who is set to give evidence at the hearing in London on Friday, “completely and categorically” denies the allegation.
England spinner Adil Rashid and former Yorkshire and Pakistan bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan have corroborated the allegation.
The fourth player in the group, former England bowler Ajmal Shahzad has said he has no recollection of it happening prior to a match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on 22 June 2009.
Giving evidence via video link from Bangladesh, where he is playing for England in a one-day international series, Rashid said he had never been “pressured” by Rafiq into corroborating the allegation against Vaughan.
Rashid released a statement on 15 November 2021 via journalist George Dobell in The Cricketer magazine which, as Vaughan’s lawyer pointed out, was “well over a year” after Rafiq’s allegations were first made.
Under questioning from Stoner, Rashid confirmed he heard Vaughan make the alleged comment but does not believe he is racist and that it was a “poor attempt at humour”.
When asked by Stoner what he allegedly heard Vaughan say, Rashid replied: “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it,” before adding, “Or, ‘we need to have a word'”.
After Stoner suggested Rashid had “no clear recollection of what was said,” the England player said: “I have a very clear recollection.”
In an interview with the ECB, a transcript of which was shown in the hearing, Shahzad said he felt Rashid was “being pressurised” by Rafiq.
Speaking of a conversation with Rashid, Shahzad told the ECB: “[Rashid] was very uncomfortable with where this was going. He wanted to nip it in the bud sooner rather than later because quite frankly he was uncomfortable with how much Rafiq knew about Adil.”
He continued in the interview to say: “And at some point [Rafiq] was capable of, you know, using something that he knew about [Rashid] personally against him.”
In his witness statement Rafiq claimed Shahzad “accuses me of having blackmailed Adil” but that is “categorically untrue”.
Rashid denied any recollection of this conversation with Shahzad, and also denied claims made in a witness statement by former Yorkshire head of HR Liz Neto.
Neto alleged Rashid had been “distressed” during phone calls and indicated to her that he was being pressured to corroborate Rafiq’s allegations, adding he had said he had told Rafiq “no matter how many times you tell me I heard it Azeem, I cannot remember hearing it”.
“I did not say that. I think she is confused with that situation,” Rashid told the hearing, repeatedly stating he “wasn’t pressured by Azeem”.
The hearing revealed Rashid and “close friend” Rafiq had been business partners after opening a fish and chip shop in October 2021, which closed a year later.
However, Rashid said they signed paperwork and got the keys “way before” any of Rafiq’s allegations came to light in August 2020.
During more than two-and-a-half hours of cross-examining Rafiq, Stoner attempted to draw attention to discrepancies in his evidence and highlight the difficulties of recalling events from “so many years ago”.
Stoner referred to evidence Rafiq gave in November 2021 to a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee hearing during which the former spinner said he had been called an offensive term.
Stoner suggested he had actually heard it being directed towards Rashid, and Rafiq admitted that was a “mistake” and that he should have “checked” the evidence that was prepared by his “wider team”.
The hearing was also shown Sky Sports footage of the moment just after the Yorkshire team huddle, when the incident is alleged to have taken place.
Stoner suggested the footage showed “nothing untoward” had happened, but Rafiq said that while he did not think the comment was made in a “malicious” way he “clearly” remembered it.
Rafiq met with Vaughan on 26 November 2021, after the DCMS select committee hearing. He said he went into the meeting with a “positive mindset”.
During the meeting, Rafiq says Vaughan apologised for the hurt he had experienced within the game – words Rafiq “trusted”, even though the former England captain did not admit saying the alleged comment.
But Rafiq said Vaughan’s subsequent actions, including an interview with the BBC, showed him he was “being naive”.
Rafiq said he was particularly “upset” and “angry” about Vaughan’s alleged comment because the 2005 Ashes-winning captain was a “hero” to him.
He said he did not speak out at the time because he did not want to “pay the consequences” of making a complaint against such a key figure in Yorkshire and England cricket.
He added: “I raised it when I had enough courage to raise it and what I feared is exactly what happened.
“In a way I wish now that I had had that courage to say it at the time.
“I carry the mental scars. Anyone who has ever spoken out the way I have will know how that feels.”
The ECB’s legal team is set to cross-examine Vaughan, who played his entire domestic career at Yorkshire before becoming a BBC cricket pundit, on Friday.
