Naved, the former Pakistan international who represented Yorkshire as an overseas player, was playing alongside Rafiq against Nottinghamshire in 2009. During that game, as players walked onto the field together, former England and Yorkshire batter Vaughan is alleged to have said: “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”

Rafiq first made public reference to the incident in an interview with Wisden.com in August 2020 but did not name which player made the alleged comment.

Rana confirmed to ESPNcricinfo in a news report published on Friday that he heard the alleged comment.

Writing in his Daily Telegraph column on Thursday, Vaughan admitted that he was named in the report commissioned to investigate Rafiq’s allegations of institutional racism at the county, but “completely and categorically” denied having ever made such a comment.

“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,” said Vaughan. “That the allegation came completely out of the blue and more than a decade after it was alleged to have happened made it all the more difficult to process.

“I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words.”

Speaking to the Press Association on Friday, Vaughan added: “I’ve done my piece last night and I stand by what I say. I know that in my life, I’ve never said anything racist to anybody. So, that’s what I stand by.”

Rana previously spoke to ESPNcricinfo in September 2020 where he supported Rafiq’s accounts of experiencing racism at the county.

“I fully support what Azeem said and this has been the case with me as well,” said Rana. “I never spoke about it because, as foreigners, we were temporary and somehow I managed to accept the way it is. So I just focused on playing cricket. I never wanted to jeopardise my contracts.”

The past week has seen Yorkshire plunged into turmoil due to its handling of Rafiq’s allegations, with chairman Roger Hutton stepping down from his position on Friday after numerous sponsors ended their relationship with the club. On Thursday the ECB had announced that the club had been suspended from hosting international matches, “until it has clearly demonstrated that it can meet the standard expected of an international venue, ECB member and first-class county”.