Root to meet Rafiq for racism talks

JOE ROOT intends to meet Azeem Rafiq face to face after the Ashes in a bid to repair cricket’s damaged image. And yesterday the England captain reiterated he has never witnessed racist behaviour at Yorkshire. Rafiq has said he found it odd that Root could not recall the abuse he suffered because he was called ‘P***’ by Gary Ballance when all the three former Yorkshire team-mates were on social nights out. Asked if he recalled such events, Root said: ‘No, I don’t. If it’s an oversight on my part, then that’s an area that we all have to learn from.’ About Rafiq he added: ‘We have exchanged a couple of messages quite recently and hopefully when we finish this tour, we will sit down and talk about this whole situation, how we can move the game forward. Along with talking to Azeem, I want to talk to Lord Patel, the Yorkshire chair — those dialogues have started. It’s important we keep finding ways of bettering the sport.’ As part of their response to the racism scandal, the ECB are looking into Rafiq’s claim that the discriminatory use of the name ‘Kevin’ by Ballance in relation to people of colour had spread to the England dressing room. ‘Clearly that phrase that should never be used in the dressing room or any part of society,’ said Root.