Michael Vaughan has been stood down from BBC 5 live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show on Monday after two cricketers said they heard the former England captain make racist comments while playing for Yorkshire in 2009.

The decision came after Vaughan, who has worked as an expert summariser and analyst on Test Match Special for 12 years, was accused of telling three players of Asian descent that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it” before a county match in Nottingham.

Vaughan, who used his Daily Telegraph column to reveal that he had been implicated in a report into Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of institutional racism at the county, said he “completely and categorically” denied using those words. However, his denials were then challenged by a second Yorkshire player, the former Pakistan all-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who said he had heard Vaughan’s comments.

Rana, who was the club’s overseas player at the time, and was alongside Rafiq at Trent Bridge in 2009, confirmed that he would be happy to give evidence to any inquiry.

In a statement, the BBC said it took “allegations of racism extremely seriously” and had taken the decision because the Tuffer’s and Vaughan show focuses on topical matters.

“The allegation against Michael Vaughan predates his time working for the BBC, we were not part of the investigation conducted by Yorkshire County Cricket Club and we have had no access to the subsequent report,” the statement read. “However, we were made aware of a single allegation which Michael strongly denies and we have been monitoring the situation closely.

“We have made the editorial decision that Michael won’t appear as a presenter on 5 live’s Tuffer’s and Vaughan show on Monday. The show focuses on topical discussion around current cricketing matters and given his personal involvement, we need to ensure we maintain the impartiality of the programme. We remain in discussion with Michael and his team.”

Writing in his column on Thursday evening, Vaughan revealed that his name was in the 100-page report produced by an independent investigation panel looking into claims of institutional racism at the county. Vaughan said that he was “gobsmacked” to find out he was included in the report and strongly denied the allegations, relating to a match at Trent Bridge.

“That the allegation came completely out of the blue and more than a decade after it was alleged to have happened made it all the more difficult to process,” he wrote. “I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words.”

Vaughan also said that he had been asked to take part in an independent panel that was investigating allegations of racism at Yorkshire in December 2020 but had declined to go. “I responded to the panel by saying I was gobsmacked and that my professional legal advice was that I could not appear before a panel having had just a few hours’ notice of such serious claims made against me,” he added.

“I take it as the most serious allegation ever put in front of me and I will fight to the end to prove I am not that person. I have nothing to hide. The ‘you lot’ comment never happened. Anyone trying to recollect words said 10 years ago will be fallible but I am adamant those words were not used.”

Vaughan’s implication in the saga came 24 hours after his former teammate Gary Ballance admitted that he had used a racial slur in conversations with Rafiq.

However, Zimbabwe-born Ballance claimed that he and Rafiq “remained closest friends throughout the time we exchanged these inappropriate comments” with his teammate travelling to Zimbabwe to stay with Ballance’s family.