HUW TURBERVILL: Vaughan gave testimony at the hearing in London on Friday (March 3). On the disciplinary process, he said: "I don't think it's the right way. I think it's a really bad look for the game. I listened. I apologised"
Michael Vaughan said he never "put his team-mates in a bad state of mind to go out and win a cricket match," as he criticised the ECB disciplinary process that has seen him accused of making a racist comment.
The former England captain was appearing on the third day of disciplinary hearings investigating alleged racism at Yorkshire CCC, at the International Arbitration Centre in Fleet Street, London.
He is charged with making a racist remark – "there's too many of you, we need to do something about it" – ahead of a T20 match between Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire in 2009. Vaughan's former team-mate, Azeem Rafiq, alleges that the comment was addressed to him, Adil Rashid, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Ajmal Shahzad. Only the latter of that quartet has said he didn't hear it.
The hearing also heard that five of the other Yorkshire players that day - Deon Kruis, Andrew Gale, Adam Lyth, Tim Bresnan and stand-in skipper Jacques Rudolph - say that they hadn't heard Vaughan's alleged comment, according to the witness statement by Paul Lunt, Vaughan's solicitor.
Vaughan is the only player out of the six accused to agree to appear at this hearing.
Michael Vaughan pictured outside the CDC hearings into racism allegations in 2023 [Justin Tallis/Getty Images]
"I have it very clear in my mind... that I know I didn't say the words I'm alleged to have said," he told Jane Mulcahy KC, the ECB counsel. "I've been in cricket for 30 years now... The comment I've been alleged to have said is a comment where a team-mate would not be able to perform to their maximum and that's not what I'm about."
He insisted: "I was two or three games away from the end of my career [and] I could not have been more proud that four Asian players, three of whom had come through the system [were playing]."
On this disciplinary process, he said. "I don't think it's the right way. I think it's a really bad look for the game. I listened. I apologised."
He says that he met Rafiq for a meal of fish and chips at his accuser's restaurant in 2021.
"I thought we were on the right platform to work together [but] that's obviously not the case," he said.
Mulcahy asked him why he apologised on behalf of the club.
Vaughan said: "I'm disgusted with what Azeem has had to go through which is why I met him. My experience playing for Yorkshire was not the experience Azeem had and for that I was apologetic … he did not have the experience I had."
Vaughan was asked about tweets he had made – including one to Moeen Ali imploring him to help combat terrorism in 2017, and another referring to the number of 'foreigners in London' in 2010. He says he "was disgusted with them" and had apologised.
"If I get things wrong in my life, I stick my hand up," he said
But he maintained that he "cannot apologise for saying something I can't remember saying, in reference to Rafiq's allegation. "An insincere apology won't help anyone."
He denied that the tweets were of a similar tone to the alleged comment to the quartet of players in 2009.
Vaughan was also questioned about his time playing with Matthew Hoggard, for Yorkshire and England. When there was confusion about the dates he said: "This is like Question of Sport."
Azeem Rafiq pictured outside the CDC hearings into racism allegations in 2023 [Justin Tallis/Getty Images]
He denied that he had heard Hoggard use the word "P***". He said if he had heard it, he would have reported the words to management.
Earlier, Meena Botros, the ECB's director of legal and integrity, was questioned by Vaughan's counsel, Christopher Stoner KC.
Botros was asked why the ECB hadn't spoken to the Sky cameraman, the umpires and Vaughan in person, although they had written to him.
Stoner asked "what on earth [was] the purpose" of Botros mentioning in his witness statement that Shahzad stated that he didn't recall shaking Vaughan's hand before the match.
He also asked if the ECB had "urged" Lord Kamlesh Patel to "get rid of people" once he had become chair of Yorkshire CC. Stoner also asked if the ECB had "documents that exonerate Mr Vaughan".
Stoner asked why the ECB had not investigated the comments of Shahzad, who said Adil Rashid was being pressured by Rafiq into corroborating the allegation against Vaughan. "Shahzad makes a serious allegation that he thinks a witness is being pressured. Surely you go away and look into that and ask further questions?"
Stoner said: "You weren't really interested in looking into the matter, apart from finding corroborating evidence, were you Mr Botros?" He replied: "That's not correct."
Former Yorkshire player Matthew Wood also appeared. He was a personal development manager with the Professional Cricketers' Association from 2011 to 2021. He met Rafiq concerning his contract at Yorkshire, a possible career in coaching, and allegations about racism.
Mulcahy put it to Wood that he "went behind" Rafiq's back after meeting him and offering 'a safe space', and told the Squire Patton Boggs-led investigation into racism at Yorkshire that Rafiq had said that he was prepared to use the 'race card' for personal gain.
Michael Vaughan pictured outside the CDC hearings into racism allegations in 2023 [Justin Tallis/Getty Images]
Former Yorkshire CCC head of HR Liz Neto then appeared. Journalists were shown her witness statement, of which eight and half of its nine pages were redacted.
In it, she said: "When the media furore was at its zenith, Mr [Adil] Rashid phoned me on more than one occasion. He appeared distressed and indicated to me that he was being pressured to corroborate allegations of racism then being made, even though he did not want to.
"He said to me, more than once, that he could not remember the particular comment he was being asked to say he witnessed, not anything racist being said in his presence. Mr Rashid's voluntary comments to me during telephone calls he chose to make to me are at odds with claims I have seen subsequently in the media, attributed to him, concerning racist comments observed or overheard."
The day began with former Scotland cricketer Majid Haq confirming the witness statements he had submitted to these proceedings in regard to comments allegedly made by ex-Yorkshire player John Blain in 2010 and 2011.
The hearing's final day is set for Tuesday (March 7).
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