Tim Bresnan, a former England bowler, is said to have called Azeem Rafiq’s sister a “n-word” at a hearing investigating racism claims at Yorkshire.

In 2014, Rafiq asserted that Bresnan called his sister Amna the n-word during a media day at Headingley.

Bresnan, 38, disputes the charge.

On the first day of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) hearing examining allegations of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, the assertion was presented as part of the evidence.

the Yorkshire CCC racism hearing live updates
All you need to know as the Yorkshire cricket racism hearing gets underway
When they spotted his sister at the media day when she was participating in a work experience program with the county, Bresnan and Gary Ballance, two former Yorkshire teammates, used the expression in reference to her Pakistani origin.

Ballance has acknowledged using the phrase in the past. In response to his charge, he has acknowledged liability and will not take part.

The claim was a component of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) lawsuit against Bresnan, who is accused of defaming the sport.

At the International Arbitration Centre in London, the ECB’s attorney Jane Mulcahy stated that Rafiq also claimed Bresnan started using the racial epithet towards or about Asian women he found attractive around 2014 or so.

Also, Bresnan allegedly used the remark to describe an Asian woman who passed them in a Birmingham pub at a team hotel in July 2018 according to Rafiq.

Bresnan, who represented England in 23 Tests and 85 One-Day Internationals, asserted that he had never used these slurs and never would.

Bresnan denied ever meeting Amna Rafiq in both his original letter to the ECB and a subsequent interview with the regulatory authority. Afterwards, he said he had observed her from a distance while she was employed by Leicester.

Bresnan further denied ever being in a bar by themselves with Rafiq.

What’s going on during the hearing?
When the former Yorkshire spinner Rafiq initially accused the county of being racist and later referred to England cricket as being “institutionally racist,” it has been more than two and a half years.

The first day of the hearing, along with the following three days, are held in public. The hearing closes on March 9. The remainder will take place in private.

Disciplinary actions against Yorkshire and seven other people who have all been accused by the ECB of defaming the game will be heard by a three-person panel.

Tim O’Gorman, CDC chair and former batsman for Derbyshire, Mark Milliken-Smith KC, a barrister with expertise in sports law, and Dr. Seema Patel, a senior law lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, make up the panel.

Following a series of withdrawals from the disciplinary process, Michael Vaughan, a former captain of both Yorkshire and England, is expected to be the only charged man to show up in person.

Bresnan, Matthew Hoggard, John Blain, Andrew Gale, and Richard Pyrah are other ex-Yorkshire players who have withdrew, while Ballance has confessed liability in response to his accusation and will not play.

Yorkshire won’t go either due to the club’s guilty plea to four ECB modified charges.