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Former Yorkshire player Rana Naved-ul-Hasan says he heard Vaughan's alleged racist comments

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in action for Yorkshire in 2008 Getty Images

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, the former Pakistan seamer, has confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he heard Michael Vaughan making racially insensitive comments to a group of Asian players at Yorkshire.

Naved, who was the club's overseas player at the time, was alongside Azeem Rafiq at Trent Bridge in 2009 when Vaughan is alleged to have said: "There's too many of you lot, we need to do something about it."

Naved and Rafiq were among four players of Asian heritage in the Yorkshire team at the time.

Vaughan, the former England captain and BBC analyst, admitted on Thursday that his name appeared in Yorkshire's report into Rafiq's allegations of racism at the club. But he used his column in the Telegraph to reject the suggestion he had ever said anything of the sort.

"I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words," Vaughan said. "This hit me very hard. It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator."

But Naved confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he heard Vaughan make the comments and has reiterated his preparedness to provide evidence to any inquiry as required.

Vaughan's implication in the saga came 24 hours after his former team-mate Gary Ballance admitted, via a statement issued by Yorkshire, that he had been the player who had used the racial slur "P**i" in conversations with Rafiq.

Yorkshire's chairman Roger Hutton has subsequently resigned amid the fall-out at the club, which includes Headingley's suspension from hosting international and major matches, and the loss of a raft of sponsors, including Emerald, Nike, Tetley's and Yorkshire Tea.