LONDON: Azeem Rafiq has demanded sweeping changes at his former English county club Yorkshire and across cricket as he revealed he is still suffering abuse amid the deepening racism row.

Yorkshire offered the 30-year-old Pakistan-born off-spinner “profound and unreserved apologies” in a report into his allegations of racial abuse in September.

But last week it said it would take no disciplinary action against any staff, unleashing a wave of criticism and prompting big name sponsors to withdraw their support.

Rafiq said the row was about “institutional racism and abject failures by numerous leaders at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and in the wider game.

“The sport I love and my club desperately need reform and cultural change,” he posted on Twitter. “The system and environment changes that will organically educate & bring through a new generation that make this the beautiful game it should be.”

The row has drawn in senior British government ministers and politicians, as well as governing body the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Rafiq, Yorkshire’s chairman and the county’s chief executive and director of cricket have all been summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee on Nov 16.

Former England international Gary Ballance on Wednesday admitted using a racial slur against Rafiq, saying in a statement: “I regret that I used this word in immature exchanges in my younger years.

“I do not wish to discredit Rafa by repeating the words and statements that he made about me and others but I have to be clear that this was a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other which, outside of that context, would be considered wholly inappropriate.”

However, Rafiq on Thursday said that despite the condemnation of his treatment at Yorkshire, criticism is still coming his way.

“We wonder why people don’t come forward. Even after everything that is out there, there seems to be personal attacks coming,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2021