Azeem Rafiq today insisted people saw him cry 'every time' he was called a 'P*ki' by Gary Ballance as his former teammate came clean about repeatedly using the racist slur but insisted they were 'best mates' enjoying 'banter' over drinks.
Ballance, who played 23 Tests and 16 one-day internationals between 2013 and 2017, released a long statement last night, just hours after MailOnline revealed he was the player accused of abusing Rafiq.
The 31-year-old batsman is said to have repeatedly called his teammate a 'P*ki' as well as telling other people 'don't talk to him (Rafiq), he's a P**i, asking 'is that your uncle?' when bearded Asian men were in view and saying in reference to corner shops: 'Does your Dad own those?'.
After Ballance was unmasked and faced calls to be sacked, he said he ‘deeply regretted’ using the slur, although he insisted it needed to be understood in the context of his ‘incredibly close’ friendship with Rafiq, adding: 'He was my best mate in cricket and I cared deeply for him. To my knowledge, it has never been alleged that I reduced Rafa to tears'.
Former England under-19 and Yorkshire captain Rafiq has vowed to hit back with the 'full truth' when he faces MPs on November 16 - before accusing Ballance of using their friendship to play down his 'racism'.
And denying Ballance's he was never reduced to tears, he added: 'Lots of people watched me cry basically every time I socialised', but accused Yorkshire Cricket Club of failing to contact them to give evidence'. He also said sponsors such as Yorkshire Tea and Anchor butter were abandoning the Headingley club because bosses 'still don’t think anything wrong has happened'
Hitting out at Ballance he said: 'Funny how things change from complete denial to I accepted everything over a 14 month period?'. He added: 'Lot to unravel & seriously wanted to avoid going in to personal things but as I said all along if “racism” is tried to be downplayed by personal stuff. I will respond'.
Gary Ballance (L) and Azeem Rafiq (R) walk off the field following a win for Yorkshire in 2012 at a time when Ballance admitted he called him 'P*ki' but insisted it was because they were friends having banter
In a statement he said Yorkshire Cricket Club is institutionally racist and he would speak out further when he faces MPs on November 2016
And Rafiq responded on Twitter to Ballance's admission he called him 'P*ki' by saying: 'Funny how things change from complete denial to I accepted everything over a 14 month period ??'
Former England cricket star Gary Ballance admitted calling his ex-Yorkshire team-mate and 'best mate' Azeem Rafiq a 'P**i'.
The batsman accepted he was responsible for some of the offensive and derogatory terms that Rafiq revealed he was subjected to during his time at Headingley.
This is said to have included telling other people 'don't talk to him (Rafiq), he's a P**i, asking 'is that your uncle?' when bearded Asian men were in view and saying in reference to corner shops: 'Does your Dad own those?'.
The 31-year-old attempted to offer some context of his 'incredibly close relationship' with Rafiq during their time together at the club, claiming both men 'said things privately to each other which were not acceptable' but made it clear he had remorse for his part of those exchanges.
In his statement, Ballance wrote: 'It has been reported that I used a racial slur and, as I told the independent enquiry, I accept that I did so and I regret doing so. To be clear - I deeply regret some of the language I used in my younger years.
'I do not wish to discredit Rafa by repeating the words and statements that he made about me and others but I have to be clear that this was a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other which, outside of that context, would be considered wholly inappropriate.
'I regret that these exchanges took place but at no time did I believe or understand that it had caused Rafa distress. If I had believed that then I would have stopped immediately.
'He was my best mate in cricket and I cared deeply for him. To my knowledge, it has never been alleged that I reduced Rafa to tears.'
Yorkshire Cricket Club has today been urged to sack him amid the claims that he repeatedly abused Mr Rafiq.
A number of sponsors including Yorkshire Tea and Anchor butter walked away from the club, while others such as Emerald Publishing demanded answers.
But last year's inquiry into Azeem Rafiq's accusations of alleged institutional racism at Yorkshire cleared a player they declined to name after concluding that regular use of the term 'P**i' came during 'banter' between the pair.
After the story emerged last week, Yorkshire then reiterated that no disciplinary action would be taken by them in the wake of Rafiq's allegations.
It is reported that the panel found Rafiq's reference to the former team-mate who is understood to be Mr Ballance, who is of Zimbabwean heritage, as 'Zimbo from Zimbabwe' as a 'racist, derogatory term'.
The report said that if Rafiq were still at Yorkshire, he would have faced disciplinary action.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Yorkshire's report — passed to the ECB for further investigation but never released — cleared Mr Ballance of wrongdoing as it was perceived the comments were made in a friendly, good-natured manner.
The investigating panel did not accept that the ex-England Under 19 captain was offended by the other player's comments, either at the time or at a later date, even though he was seen crying.
They said in the context of 'banter between friends', Rafiq might be 'expected to take such comments in the spirit in which they were intended'.
'The club carried out its own internal investigation which shows there is no conduct or action taken by any current employees, players or executives that warrants disciplinary action,' read a club statement.
'We do, however, acknowledge we must work hard to restore trust from those who feel let down.
'There is much the club can learn from the independent report and we are committed to incorporating the panel's recommendations into our diversity and inclusion plans.'
Mr Rafiq accused allies of the Yorkshire Cricket Club of mounting a smear campaign against him as sponsors began to desert the club.
The Yorkshire cricketer accused of calling Azeem Rafiq a 'p*ki' is believed to be former England star Gary Ballance, MailOnline can exclusively reveal today
The batsman (pictured with wife Alex) issued a long and emotional statement this evening
Mr Rafiq accused allies of the Yorkshire Cricket Club and the player he says repeatedly called him a 'P*ki' of mounting a smear campaign against him as sponsors began to desert the club
Yorkshire have lost one of their main commercial partners over the club's handling of the Azeem Rafiq (left) race row. Chairman Roger Hutton (right) is under pressure to resign and will now face Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee over the club's farcical handling of Rafiq's complaints
Born in Zimbabwe, where his parents were tobacco farmers, Gary Ballance moved to England during his school years.
Having been schooled at two boarding schools in Zimbabwe, where he was part of the country's youth cricket set-up, he moved to England in 2006.
After moving to England, Ballance, who has British roots through his grandparents, one of whom flew for the RAF during World War II, attended the prestigious Harrow School.
While at the public school in North West London he was a cricketing team mate of current Glamorgan batsman Sam Northeast.
Playing for Harrow, a young Ballance showed his cricketing pedigree by scoring a century against Eton College at Lord's.
He signed for Derbyshire for the 2006 season, playing exclusively in their second XI. He was noted down at the time in cricketing bible Wisden as a 'real prospect'.
After another season in the second XI, he moved to Yorkshire, where he signed an academy contract which allowed him to study at Leeds Metropolitan University - though he dropped out after a year.
In 2008 he made his debut for Yorkshire, where he was a room mate of current England Test team captain Joe Root.
He broke into the Yorkshire first team in 2011 and impressed, leading to a selection for the England Lions squad for a limited-overs tour of Australia in February 2013.
He was the most prolific batsman in Division One in the 2013 season and, after also impressing with the Lions, debuted for England's Test team against Ireland, in Dublin, in September 2013.
But Ballance, a left handed batsman, failed to impress, getting caught behind without having scored a run.
Despite his unimpressive debut, he was picked as part of the England side for the 2013-2014 Ashes series against Australia, which England lost 5-0.
Ballance was only selected for the fifth and final test, scoring 25 runs across two innings.
While he was earning plaudits on the pitch, particularly at county level, Ballance's life off the pitch was called into question.
He was snapped topless and glassy-eyed in a nightclub in 2014 hours after England were beaten by India - at that point England's ninth successive test match without a victory.
Then 24, the batsman was carried out of the bar in Nottingham after telling incredulous fans: 'I'm not a cricketer tonight. I'm just a drunken b*****d.'
Back on the pitch though, Ballance was impressing. For England, it took him just ten Tests, and 17 innings, to reach 1000 Test runs - the third quickest in English cricketing history.
At the time he averaged 67.93, with four hundreds and five fifties.
But things turned quickly at the end of 2015, with Ballance having a difficult tour against New Zealand.
And he was dropped after being dismissed for just 14 as England were bowled out for just 103 and suffered a humiliating 405 run defeat to Australia in the second test of the 2015 Ashes series.
He was recalled in 2016 due to Nick Compton's poor form, and hit a good patch with runs against Pakistan.
But difficult tests against Bangladesh saw him slip out of the England set up once more.
Ballance was later recalled to play in the first test against South Africa at Lord's after his form recovered for Yorkshire.
He played the first two tests before a broken thumb ruled him out of the next two matches. Ballance has not played for England since 2017.
Without the pressure of international cricket, Ballance has continued to impress at County level.
He is the only player to have finished in the top six run-scorers in the top flight of the County Championship in each of its last three seasons.
However Ballance missed the entire 2020 domestic season, because of a series of reasons, including suffering from anxiety early in the season, followed by his wife testing positive for Covid-19.
He subsequently missed the start of the 2021 season after a concussion in nets practice.
Earlier this year, Ballance told Sportsmail how the arrival of his newborn son was keeping his mind off a possible England recall - having impressed with the bat.
He said: 'Playing for England was brilliant. I loved it. I'd love to have the opportunity again. But I feel you need to be in a good place physically and mentally to play Test cricket. If you're not, then you can struggle.'
Last year he revealed that after cricket he hoped to return to his family's farm in Zimbabwe.
He told the Telegraph and Argus: 'They always tell you that you've got to look forward to the future.
'Obviously I've still got family in Zimbabwe.
'My dad's out there, my brother and my mum, and they've been looking to buy some cows. Hopefully we can get a good number of cows and I can get a bit of an income for when I retire.
'My dad's only just started it up, so I think it's in single figures at the moment.
'Hopefully after a few years we'll get it up to triple figures. You've got to think outside of the box!'
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The former England under-19 captain also slammed 'silence' from the British Asian and Pakistani communites he believes should be supporting him and declared: 'Even now people trying to discredit me behind the scenes'.
Mr Rafiq has demanded Yorkshire breaks their silence and release the name of his former team-mate' in an uncensored version of their investigation into his allegations of racism and bullying when he played for the team.
He tweeted: 'Even now people [are] trying to discredit me behind the scenes. Guess what they are from my community. It hurts every day!! I will not be scared of any legal actions or things you say about me. You have all tried to END me. Still here & fighting'.
He added: 'When investigating racism, the process needs transparency, not only so people know what
