Atherton: Yorkshire racism scandal shows game needs better leadership

The racism scandal at Yorkshire which Azeem Rafiq recently exposed has shown the lack of leadership both at the county itself and within the England and Wales Cricket Board, according to Sky Sports pundit and former England captain Michael Atherton.

Rafiq's allegations of institutional racism while at Headingley first surfaced in September 2020, when the former Yorkshire player said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo that "deep-rooted" racism at the county had left him "close to committing suicide".

Yorkshire swiftly launched an investigation, but it was not until August 2021 that they issued "profound apologies" to Rafiq after stating that their report into his allegations found that he was "the victim of inappropriate behaviour", which they described as "clearly unacceptable".

However, the county did not accept his claim of institutional racism, stating that "many of the allegations were not upheld and for others, there was insufficient evidence for the panel to make a determination".

Rafiq accused Yorkshire of "fudging" his claims and promised that he was "not going away" and after a further parliamentary inquiry and then a ECB investigation, it was only recently that the county and seven individuals were charged by the latter.

Atherton, however, says this whole episode has been an example of how not to handle such affairs.

"It has been a very troubling story over the last year, one which has almost brought this great club to its knees and may yet do so," Atherton told Sky Sports. "It is not over, there is much more to come and we will see how that pans out over the next few months.

"I think we can say a couple of things without fear of contradiction - one is how badly Yorkshire have handled this situation from the