BT Sport to review Ashes coverage plan

BT Sport is reviewing plans to use Fox Sports commentary for its Ashes coverage with former England captain Michael Vaughan part of the Australian broadcaster’s team.

Vaughan was implicated in allegations of racism made by his former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq, which the 47-year-old categorically denies as “completely false”.

After being stood down from his BBC radio show earlier this month, Vaughan was subsequently left out of the corporation’s team for the upcoming Ashes tour because of what was described as a potential “conflict of interest”.

On Wednesday, Vaughan, pictured, responded in a post on Instagram to say he was “very disappointed” by the BBC’S decision, but confirmed he was still looking forward to heading to Australia as part of the Fox Sports team.

BT Sport hold exclusive UK TV rights for the Test series, which starts in Brisbane on December 8.

However, the broadcaster is not sending a bespoke commentary team, and instead had planned to take the audio feed from Fox Sports, who are one of the Australian rights holders.

In light of recent developments, that position is to be looked at again – and could result in BT Sport opting to use a different audio set up, such as that from Channel 7, which includes Sir Ian Botham and Ricky Ponting.

A BT Sport spokesman said in a statement: “As a result of Covid and travel restrictions BT Sport had made the decision to take our commentary feed from the Australian host broadcaster.

“The recent report presented to UK Parliament uncovering institutional racism within cricket and specifically Yorkshire County Cricket Club is extremely disappointing and a concern for all. Given these recent events we are reviewing and discussing our commentary plans with Cricket Australia.”

In another development, former Middlesex and Durham bowler Simon Hughes has resigned from The Cricketer magazine following criticism for his comments in a podcast regarding Rafiq’s allegations of racism at Yorkshire involving Gary Ballance.

Play was abandoned on the third day of England’s warm-up match against England Lions in Brisbane due to rain.

England were due to resume on 98 without loss with Haseeb Hameed (53) and Rory Burns (39) at the crease.

Tuesday’s opening day was cut short in the second session at Wellington Point, and an early call was made to pull the second day on Wednesday after heavy rains on the Queensland coast.