Former England batter Alex Hales on Friday apologised for an old photo showing him in blackface at a fancy dress party and clarified that he was paying tribute to late rapper Tupac Shakur at a 2009 New Year’s Eve party.

The Sun newspaper published the image on Thursday also clarified that the photo was taken at a New Year’s Eve party in 2009. The ECB is investigating the matter while Reuters was unable to get an immediate comment from the ECB, the Sun newspaper said.

Hales released a video on Instagram and stated that it was indeed disrespectful of him to behave in that manner and even termed his behaviour as foolish and reckless and apologized for the embarrassment that he has caused due to his conduct.

His statement comes days after Hales denied any racist connotation in naming his dog, after allegations by Yorkshire bowler Azeem Rafiq.

Earlier this week, former Yorkshire bowler Azeem Rafiq, a player of Pakistani descent, testified before a British parliamentary committee and spoke about the discrimination he faced while playing for Yorkshire. The sport in England was riddled with racism, he said.

Rafiq’s battle against Yorkshire and the prevailing racist culture has gained weight when he was asked to speak at a hearing before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee.

On Thursday, Rafiq – who has spoken of his experiences of racism at Yorkshire – apologised and said he is deeply ashamed for using anti-Semitic language in Facebook messages from 2011.

Hales, suspended by England for a second positive drugs test in 2019, has denied his dog’s name had racist connotations.

Nottinghamshire has also tweeted that the club will investigate the conduct of Hales in the year 2009. He is willing to co-operate and will take part in the investigation, the club said.

Currently, Hales is participating in the Big Bash League and will return to Nottinghamshire in January next year.

In a statement, ECB officials said any form of discrimination will be condemned and allegations against Hales will be investigated. The ECB wants cricket to be an inclusive sport, the board said.

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Hours after former England skipper denied the racial abuse accusations, his former Yorkshire teammate Rana Naved ul Hasan confirmed the claim by Azeem Rafiq, who earlier accused Vaughan of racial abuse.

Rana, the former Pakistani cricketer, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo confirmed that he heard Vaughan making racist comments to a group of Asian players of county team Yorkshire in 2009. Rana, the former Pakistani cricketer, was playing as the club’s overseas player at that time alongside Azeem Rafiq at Trent bridge, confirmed that Vaughan said, “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”

Michael Vaughan on Thursday denied the accusations made by Azeem Rafiq and said that he completely and categorically denies that he ever said such words. Vaughan said that it hit him very hard that in his 30 years of cricket career – as a cricketer or commentator – he has never been accused of any such incident.

Vaughan said that he was asked to speak during the inquiry about the incident that happened 11 years ago that nothing was raised at that time and until the night before he was asked to speak to the inquiry.
Vaughan particularly said that the ‘you lot’ comment never happened that if Rafiq believes something was said at that time then it is what he believes.

Meanwhile, Roger Hutton the chairman of England county club Yorkshire, resigned from his post, following the racism row. He apologised to Azeem Rafiq for facing such comments.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise unreservedly to Azeem,” Hutton said. “I am sorry that we could not persuade executive members of the board to recognise the gravity of the situation and show care and contrition. I want to be clear that when I was made aware of Azeem Rafiq’s allegations, I immediately reached out to the ECB to ask for their help and intervention to support a robust inquiry. I was saddened when they declined to help as I felt it was a matter of great importance for the game as a whole,” added Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton.

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