Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has said he categorically denies claims of racism made by former teammate Azeem Rafiq.

Rafiq claimed Vaughan had said to a group of the team’s Asian players that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it” before a match.

In statement, Vaughan said: “I categorically deny saying the words attributed to me by Azeem Rafiq and want to re-state this publicly because the ‘you lot’ comment simply never happened.”

He said anyone who had seen TV footage of Yorkshire’s pre-match huddle at the 2009 game “and the interaction between the players, would find it hard to reconcile those scenes with the version of events that has been presented”.

The restatement of his denial comes as another player, Adil Rashid, backed Rafiq’s claims.

Mr Rashid, who still plays for Yorkshire, told The Cricketer: “I wanted to concentrate as much as possible on my cricket and to avoid distractions to the detriment of the team but I can confirm Azeem Rafiq’s recollection of Michael Vaughan’s comments to a group of us Asian players.”

Vaughan said in his statement that it was “extremely upsetting that this completely false accusation has been made against me by a former teammate, apparently supported by two other players”.

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