Michael Vaughan was dropped from BBC’s commentary team for the upcoming Ashes series after he was caught between the ongoing racism row that has rocked English cricket. The former England skipper allegedly made racist comments, targetting Asians, in a 2009 county match. 

A BBC spokesperson on Wednesday said that Vaughan was dropped to avoid a “conflict of interest”. 

“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.”

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“We require our contributors to talk about relevant topics and his involvement in the Yorkshire story represents a conflict of interest.”

Vaughan had earlier been axed from a BBC’s Test Match Special, a show he was working as an analyst on for 12 years. 

Former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq claimed Vaughan told a group of Asian players that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.

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However, the 2005 Ashes winning captain categorically denied the allegations. 

“I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words. I have nothing to hide. The ‘you lot’ comment never happened. Anyone trying to recollect words said 10 years ago will be fallible but I am adamant those words were not used. If Rafiq believes something was said at the time to upset him then that is what he believes,” he said. 

Vaughan represented Yorkshire from 1991 until his retirement in 2009. 

Yorkshire’s chairman and chief executive have both resigned, while head coach Andrew Gale has been suspended pending investigations over a historical anti-Semitic tweet.