Azeem has put all of us on notice

CRICKET has been through an uncomfortable time as it has dealt with the issue of racism but when things are like this, you have to be able to find a way to come through and be better, so this is a great chance for the sport to grow, to feel more diverse and include people of every background. All should be welcome to play.

The England team cannot control how that is facilitated in club cricket but we can control how that feels in our own changing room. I feel that the environment that has been created over a long period of time by our leadership groups is pretty special.

Clearly, other players haven’t felt that at other levels of cricket and the awareness of that fact is really important. Every player who plays county cricket, every cricket fan who has been following this story will no doubt have huge amounts of empathy for anyone who has faced any form of discrimination.

I am not aware of any racist incidents in my time as a professional but Azeem Rafiq made one really interesting observation during his testimony in front of MPs last month when he said, in relation to some of the alleged comments, that the words may not have meant anything to people at the time.

That hit me quite hard because it made me think whether I’ve been aware enough, whether I’ve just been drifting at times. I can honestly say this England team have been superb but I have to accept that I am a middle-aged white man who went to a public school. Are my ears close enough to the ground? They have to be from now on.

Out of something so uncomfortable, something good now has to happen. We have to learn how to make things different for the next generation but also for the generation that are playing at the moment. Can we make the game a better place for all? One hundred per cent, we can.