Veteran cricket commentator David Lloyd has apologised after Azeem Rafiq said to a British parliamentary committee that he had made some racial comments about Asian cricketers. However, Rafiq has brought racism allegations to his county club Yorkshire and in Tuesday’s distressing testimony, he shared how “inhuman” treatment he had received. He also said the sport in England was riddled with racism.

Rafiq also mentioned that members of the media were also guilty of racism and named Lloyd, who is now a Sky Sports analyst, messaged others in the media and said: “a clubhouse is the lifeblood of a club and Asian players don’t go in there.”

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“In October 2020, I had a private message exchange with a third party involved in cricket, about a number of topics,” Lloyd has said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday. “In these messages, I referred to allegations about Azeem Rafiq which I had heard from within the game. I also made some comments about the Asian cricket community.”

He continued: “I deeply regret my actions, and I apologise most sincerely to Azeem and to the Asian cricket community for doing this, and for any offence caused. I am strongly committed to making cricket a more inclusive sport. It is very obvious now that more work needs to be done and I will do everything I can to remove discrimination from the sport I love, and the sport that has been my life for over 50 years.”

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However, in his testimony, Azeem Rafiq has said that he found Lloyd’s comments “disturbing” as others in Sky were doing “amazing work on bringing racism to the front” as well, naming the veteran as “closet racist”. Meanwhile, Sky has said they will soon investigate David Lloyd’s comments. “Sky is committed to actively championing inclusion in cricket – and in all sports – and opposing all forms of discrimination,” they said in a statement as well.