Dont recall any incident of racism at Yorkshire, says Joe Root

England Test captain Joe Root on Monday
said he cannot recall any incidents of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
Former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq said he found Root’s denial of ever
hearing racist language “hurtful” and “strange”.

Rafiq gave his harrowing testimony to the
UK MPs earlier this month concerning the abuse he suffered at the hands of
former England captain Michael Vaughan, Gary Ballance and Alex Hales over two
spells at the Yorkshire. Following Rafiq’s statement, former Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton had resigned from the post. 

Also Read: Joe Root optimistic about Ben Stokes’ availability for first Ashes Test

Rafiq told MPs that the use of the name
‘Kevin’ as a derogatory term to describe any person of colour by his Yorkshire
team-mate Gary Ballance was an open secret in the England dressing room. Commenting
on that, Root said, “Clearly that is a phrase which you should never be using
in any part of society. But that is part of a live investigation and I am
currently not able to discuss matters on that because of that investigation.”

Root, who said he had exchanged messages
with Rafiq since he gave his evidence, insisted again on Monday that he never
witnessed any incident of racism at Yorkshire dressing room.

“I stand by what I said. I don’t recall
those incidences and if there are oversights on my part then that’s an area
which we all have to learn from and allow us to learn from,” Root said.

Root, who also said he had talked to
Yorkshire’s new chairman Lord Patel, was praised in 2019 for calling out
alleged homophobic language during a match against the West Indies.

“There have been other things that happened
on the cricket field where I feel like I have stepped in and called things out,
and I think that comes from growth and learning and understanding and
education,” he said.

Also Read: Yorkshire racism row has ‘fractured our game, torn lives apart’: Joe Root

“There’s so much work that has to be done.
There’s so much energy that has to be thrown into this,”  Root was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo

In view of Rafiq’s racism allegation, the England and Wales Cricket Board on
Friday came up with a 12-point action plan to combat racism in the sport.