Former England captain Michael Vaughan will return to the BBC this summer for coverage of the Ashes and Test game against Ireland after the ECB’s accusations of racism against him were dismissed.
- Michael Vaughan will return to the BBC this summer for his cricket coverage
- He was accused of telling his Yorkshire team-mates ‘there are too many of you’
- The 48-year-old was cleared of racism allegations by the ECB in March
Former England captain Michael Vaughn will return to the BBC to cover the men’s series Ashes and the test match against Ireland this summer.
The 48-year-old has not worked for the BBC since being charged by the ECB last year over alleged racist language used against his Yorkshire team-mates.
But Vaughan, who was accused of saying “there are too many of you, we need to talk about it” to Azeem Rafiq and other teammates, regained his reputation in March when a cricket disciplinary committee concluded that the allegation was ‘unproven’.
After an eight-day hearing in March, the ECB’s Cricket Disciplinary Committee published their findings which concluded that the case against Vaughan was unproven.
The verdict said that “on a balance of probabilities” Vaughan did not use racist language “at the time and in the specific circumstances alleged”.
The former England captain was cleared of racism allegations by the ECB early last week
The former England captain was cleared of racism allegations by the ECB earlier in March
Azeem Rafiq was one of those Yorkshire players of Asian descent who was allegedly the subject of Vaughan’s comments in 2009
The CDC found five former Yorkshire players – Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Richard Pyrah and John Blain – used racist language during their time at Headingley, although some of the charges against them were dismissed.
Gary Ballance had previously pleaded guilty to using racist language with penalties to be issued by the CDC before the end of next month.
Vaughan contacted Rafiq after the verdict, but was scathing at the ECB, whose disciplinary proceedings have been widely criticized by all parties involved.
The 48-year-old hasn’t worked in cricket since being sacked by the BBC, but will return once again this summer.
Vaughan, who captained England between 2003 and 2008, featured on BBC coverage of the 2021-22 series Ashes but returned in March 2022 before walking away.
Since retiring in 2009, he has worked for the BBC, ITV, BT Sport and Australia Fox Sports.
England will face Ireland in their first Test match of the summer on June 1 before the start of the Ashes on June 16.
