Vaughan WILL be BT Sport pundit for England's third Test

Michael Vaughan WILL be BT Sport pundit for England’s third Test against West Indies later this month… just three months after broadcaster dumped ex-England captain from their Ashes coverage after Azeem Rafiq racism claim

• Michael Vaughan will be one of the studio guests for the third Test this month
• He appeared on screen on Tuesday to pay tribute to the late Shane Warne
• BT Sport went to great lengths to avoid Vaughan’s commentary in Australia
• It came after he was accused of making a racist comment by Azeem Rafiq  

BT Sport are using Michael Vaughan as a pundit during England’s Test series in West Indies – just three months after cancelling him from their Ashes coverage.

Vaughan will be one of the studio guests for the third Test later this month, having also appeared on screen from home before the start of Tuesday’s play to pay tribute to the late Shane Warne.

The ex-England captain’s return is a surprise given BT Sport went to great lengths to avoid his commentary in Australia over the winter after he was accused of racism by Azeem Rafiq.

BT Sport are using Michael Vaughan as a pundit during England’s Test series in West Indies

Vaughan (left) appeared on screen from home to pay tribute to the late Shane Warne (right)

During the first two Ashes Tests, the channel cut away from the audio feed they were taking from Fox Sports each time Vaughan – who was working for the Australian host broadcaster – was on air. For the final three Tests of the series, BT Sport sent David Gower to Australia and used their own commentary throughout.

At the time, the station said that including Vaughan in their coverage would not be ‘editorially appropriate or fit with BT Sport’s values’.

Vaughan was accused by Rafiq of saying, ‘There are too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’, to a group of Asian players during a Yorkshire match in 2009.

The 47-year-old still denies making the comments but in an interview last month he revealed he has been on a diversity and inclusivity course following advice by the head of BT Sport, Simon Green.

BT Sport went to great lengths to avoid Vaughan’s commentary in Australia after he was accused of racism by Azeem Rafiq (above)

‘I honestly think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,’ he told the Telegraph. ‘I can say that from doing this course, I know that I’m a miles better person now than I was.’

BT Sport did not wish to comment about Vaughan’s return to screen but pointed to him completing his diversity training programme.

Vaughan has also not worked for the BBC since Rafiq’s allegations surfaced last November but the corporation have said they ‘expect to work with Michael again in the future’.

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