Gary Ballance, the Yorkshire and England batter, has acknowledged that he was the one who used the offensive term "P***" to his former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq. Ballance noted that he "deeply regretted" the terms he used against the player while he also said that Rafiq was his "closest friend and supporter in cricket".

Rafiq initially made allegations of racism against Yorkshire in August last year and an independent report commissioned by the club observed that he had suffered "racial harassment and bullying". However, Yorkshire said that their own internal investigation had "come to the conclusion that there is no conduct or action taken by any of its employees, players or executives that warrants disciplinary action."