‘I’m sorry for all the hurt to Rafiq. If any of it is down to me, then I apologise’

Vaughan’s heartfelt interview adds to the pressure on BBC to lift his ban

MICHAEL VAUGHAN yesterday said he was ‘sorry for all the hurt’ that former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq has suffered as pressure grew on the BBC to reinstate him to their Test Match Special commentary team.

During an interview with BBC Breakfast, Vaughan also denied for a third time that he made the ‘you lot’ comments of which he is accused by Rafiq, insisted he never made racist remarks during his 17 seasons as a player with Yorkshire and hoped the pair of them could now shake hands and move on.

The former England captain cannot do that as things stand after BBC bosses axed him from their Ashes coverage — a move branded ‘deeply unethical’ by his former international team-mate Monty Panesar.

Vaughan, 47, refused to condemn the decision to remove him from the iconic programme ‘while he is involved in a significant story in cricket,’ adding that he understood the call that it was not appropriate at this time.

However, he revealed that he and the Corporation were engaged in ongoing conversations about his future. He remains under contract.

‘I just hope in time I get that chance to come back and the one thing that I’ve loved more than anything since I retired is talking cricket,’ Vaughan said.

‘I hope next year I can get back working with the team. I love being on Test Match Special and hopefully in time I get the chance to do it again.’

Vaughan’s ‘black listing’, as Panesar called it in his newspaper column yesterday, includes BT Sport going to extraordinary lengths to mute him to British viewers when England’s five-Test series against Australia gets under way in Brisbane on December 8.

BT are taking a live commentary feed from host broadcaster Fox Sports, who are honouring a contract which also includes work on the Big Bash League, Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition.

A Fox spokesperson told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Michael Vaughan is part of the Fox Cricket commentary team for the summer of cricket in Australia, including the Ashes tour.

‘There is no place for any form of racism in sport, and we are continuing to closely monitor the situation.’

But BT are busy working on alternative plans for the stints when Vaughan is on air. They are limited in what they can do directly as they do not have any cricket staff on the ground in Australia, opting instead to have a team fronted by Matt Smith and including Sir Alastair Cook and Steve Harmison in London, although it is understood that they have recruited a local roving reporter to link to the studio.

Yesterday, a BT insider said talks with both Fox and Cricket Australia were continuing and they hoped to confirm what they were doing soon, given that the first ball is due to be sent down in less than a fortnight.In his first TV interview since the scandal broke three weeks ago, Vaughan said he had ‘no recollection’ of the incident in question, which is said to have taken place on the field at Trent Bridge in 2009.

Rafiq alleged under parliamentary privilege at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport hearing earlier this month that Vaughan said: ‘Too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’, to him and three other Yorkshire players of Asian heritage — World Cup winner Adil Rashid, another England international, Ajmal Shahzad, and Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

That account was supported by Naved and Rashid but Shahzad has gone on record as saying he has no recall of the incident.

‘I just remember it clearly that I was proud as punch that we had four Asian players representing Yorkshire County Cricket Club,’

Vaughan said. ‘Nothing but a proud, senior, old pro just about to retire and absolutely delighted that Yorkshire had come so far in my time at the club.’

Addressing MPs, Rafiq suggested Vaughan might not remember because ‘it doesn’t mean anything to him’.

In response, Vaughan countered: ‘That hurts because I’ve always felt that every single team that I’ve been involved in, the biggest praise

I’ve got as England captain for six

years was that I was the kind of person that really galvanised the group.

‘I always felt that I was the person in the dressing room that really wanted everyone to feel included.’

Asked if Rafiq, Rashid and Naved were lying, he added: ‘The problem with this situation is that we’ve got too much “he said, he said, she said, did they say?” and I think we’ve got to move on from accusations of conversations from many years ago. There’s a bigger picture here.’

Vaughan was first made aware of the allegations by Rafiq — who offered no comment when contacted by the Mail On Sunday — in

December 2020 by the independent investigation team appointed by Yorkshire.

‘I’m sorry for the hurt he has gone through,’ the former England captain said of Rafiq. ‘It hurts deeply, hurts me that a player has gone through so much, been treated so badly at the club that I love. ‘I have to take some responsibility for that because I played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club for 18 years and if in any way, shape or form I’m responsible for any of his hurt, I apologise for that.’ Asked by the BBC’s Dan Walker if he ever made any racist comments during his time at Headingley, Vaughan said: ‘No, I didn’t. No.’

He added: ‘Time I don’t think can ever be a healer in the situation that (Rafiq) has gone through. But hopefully time can be a way of us making sure that Yorkshire never goes through this situation again and never puts themselves in a position of denial that they treated a player so badly.’

But he was forced to admit embarrassment at some of his historic tweets — suggesting that England star Moeen Ali should take

to the streets to ask Muslims if they were terrorists, that Yorkshire had to call Cheteshwar Pujara ‘Steve’ because the other players couldn’t pronounce his name, and bemoaning a lack of English speakers in London.

‘I apologise deeply to anyone that I’ve offended with those tweets,’ Vaughan said.

‘Times have moved on and I regret those tweets. I apologise for that.’

He added: ‘I heard plenty of things in my 18 years as a player in a dressing room which you would not even consider to be acceptable now.

‘I would say any sports person that’s out there from that era that says otherwise, I don’t think they’re telling the truth.’