Former England player Michael Vaughan has said that he is ‘very disappointed’ after being dropped from the BBC commentary team for the much-awaited Ashes series after the racism controversy made headlines recently. He also shared that he wants to be part of the solution regarding this and he is also ready to educate himself as well.
He said that after Pakistan-born former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq recently made allegations of racism against a few of the big names in England cricket. He added that, during a county match in 2009, Vaughan had stated that Rafiq and other Yorkshire players of Asian origin that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.” However, the veteran cricketer has denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, BBC has confirmed that Vaughan would not be featured in the Ashes commentary team since “he is involved in a significant story in cricket.”
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Reacting to that, Michael Vaughan took to his Instagram account and said that although he would miss commentating for BBC, he will work with Fox Cricket in Australia. He recently shared a picture with Shane Warne, Allan Border, Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist as well.
Michael Vaughan wrote: “Very disappointed not to be commentating for TMS on the Ashes and will miss working with great colleagues & friends, but looking forward to being behind the mic for @foxcricket in Australia. The issues facing cricket are bigger than any individual case and I want to be part of the solution, listening, educating myself and helping to make it a more welcoming sport for all”.
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However, BBC has also released a statement to confirm that Vaughan won’t be featured in the Ashes commentary panel as he was “involvement in the Yorkshire story represents a conflict of interest”. The Ashes series will start next month.
The statement read: “While he is involved in a significant story in cricket, for editorial reasons we do not believe that it would be appropriate for Michael Vaughan to have a role in our Ashes team or wider coverage of the sport at the moment. We require our contributors to talk about relevant topics and his involvement in the Yorkshire story represents a conflict of interest.”
