Azeem Rafiq believes that Yorkshire has "taken a step in the right direction" following last year's racism scandal and should be allowed to host England games once again.
Yorkshire County Cricket Club was suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from hosting international cricket in November in response to the county's handing of allegations of institutional racism made by Rafiq.
However, the former spin bowler - who had two spells with the team between 2008 and 2018 - has said the county has "done enough" to warrant having that suspension lifted.
The ECB said at the time of the suspension that it would remain until Yorkshire "clearly demonstrated that it can meet the standards expected".
Several high-profile figures at the county either resigned or were sacked over the handling of the allegations.
Former chairman Roger Hutton has been replaced by Lord Patel, while director of cricket Martyn Moxon has been succeeded by former Yorkshire and England fast bowler Darren Gough.
Chief executive Mark Arthur also resigned, and first-team coach Andrew Gale was sacked.
"I want to see England playing at Headingley this summer," Rafiq wrote in the Daily Mail.
"At first in all this, I believed international cricket should be taken away from them, but they have done enough to warrant getting it back, for now at least.
"They should be given back the international cricket so vital to their very survival.
"If we are asking an institution to look at itself, then we should recognise when it begins to show it is genuinely sorry and attempts to start putting things right.
"Yorkshire need to be supported and helped to move in that right direction."
The third Test against world champions New Zealand that had been scheduled to take place at Headingley before the suspension was imposed begins on June 23.
Rafiq also spoke highly of the appointment of Gough as director of cricket at Yorkshire, citing their previous relationship as team-mates.
"It's no secret we are friends since he was one of my first captains and we have always stayed in touch," he added.
"I'm encouraged by his involvement, not least because the game needs people like him back directly involved."
Rafiq said at a DCMS select committee hearing in November that he believed English cricket to be "institutionally racist", and again emphasised that more change is needed in the game, not just at his former county.
"I am not saying everything is now hunky-dory at my old county and we can all move on," he said.
"Yorkshire must be kept under review to make sure this really is the start of something important and meaningful - everything is not fine yet, not by a long way.
"It just seems outside the county everyone wants to throw the book at Yorkshire and my concern is some want to do that in order to make themselves look better or deflect attention away from their [own] issues.
"I don't agree with that because it will not drive change.
"There are thousands of cases outside Yorkshire and what is happening to them today could easily happen to another county tomorrow."
An ECB investigation into the allegations is ongoing.
Archer brings 'fear factor' to England's T20 World Cup squad, says Curran
Jofra Archer's return will bring a "fear factor" to England's bowling attack at the T20 World Cup, believes team-mate Sam Curran.
Paceman Archer has endured an injury-hit few years, with elbow and back problems preventing him from representing England since March 2023.
However, he has been included in England's provisional squad for next month's World Cup in the United States and West Indies and could make his international return on Wednesday.
England face Pakistan in the first of four T20Is at Headingley, and Archer is expected to feature after taking part in team training on Monday.
It is hoped he might play in three of the four matches against Pakistan in order to build up fitness ahead of the World Cup, and Curran says opposition teams will be nervous about his return.
"It's incredibly exciting," Curran said on Monday. "I'm sure England fans and players are extremely buzzed to have him back. He's an addition no side can turn down.
"He's obviously got that extra pace and fear factor we can bring to the opposition as well. Hopefully his injuries are behind him now."
IPL: Mumbai Indians condemned to last-place finish after 18-run defeat to Super Giants
Rohit Sharma's half-century was not enough for Mumbai Indians as they slipped to an 18-run defeat to Lucknow Super Giants at Wankhede Stadium.
The defeat consigned Mumbai to bottom place in the Indian Premier League for the second time in the space of three seasons, after losing 10 matches this year.
LSG were also left to lament their misfortune, as despite reaching 14 points, they did not qualify for the play-offs.
KL Rahul's 55 got the ball rolling for Lucknow, but their innings was ebbing out until Nicholas Pooran's dazzling 29-ball 75 took them to 214-6, despite the efforts of Nuwan Thushara (3-28) and Piyush Chawla (3-29), who stepped up in Jasprit Bumrah's absence.
Rohit's 38-ball 68 set the tone for what looked set to be a promising Mumbai chase, as he struck 13 boundaries around a short rain delay.
However, Mumbai went from 88 without loss to 120-5 in the space of six overs, leaving the tail with too much of a mountain to climb.
Data Debrief: Lucknow miss out
While Mumbai sit bottom of the pile yet again, it is a case of what might have been for LSG, who for the first time in their three-season history, failed to make the top four.
Fourteen points is often enough to get over the line and into the play-offs, but their poor net run rate of -0.667 means they miss out.
Tape ball programme can help England find unorthodox talent – Richard Gould
The England and Wales Cricket Board hopes to unearth a new seam of talent beyond the game’s traditional league structure with a national tape ball scheme that allows players to thrive without “whites, willow and leather”.
The practice of using a soft ball wrapped in electrical tape to aid swing and variable bounce is a common one in Asia, where it has helped produce express pace bowlers like Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and spinners such as Rashid Khan and Shakib-al-Hasan, but has been slow to enter the mainstream conversation in the United Kingdom.
The Chance to Shine charity has long pioneered tape ball cricket as part of its engagement hubs and now, with the ECB keen to live up to its lofty aspiration of becoming the most inclusive team sport in the country, it is at the heart of a new core cities programme designed to engage ‘diverse communities in urban areas’.
Speaking at a launch event where games were hosted in a warehouse space in Birmingham, ECB chief executive Richard Gould was optimistic about reaching out to those with an interest in cricket but limited access to the pavilions and prepared pitches in the club setup.
“We talk about clubs with picket fences around them. In the past that has been seen as the preserve of the ECB. We’ve missed a complete trick on that,” he said.
“When we talk about the recreational game we’re not just talking about Premier League clubs and village cricket clubs now. We’re talking about all forms of cricket that take place.
“You can play the game anywhere, any time, with anybody, in any environment you want. You don’t have to have whites, willow and leather to do it. You can just pick up a bat and a ball and have some fun.”
As well as fulfilling its remit of reaching out to all comers at a grassroots level, Gould also believes there are benefits to finding cricketers with different styles who have learned the game outside the traditional, private-school heavy pathways.
“Without doubt there are,” he said. “We have to get out and try to find the talent. More to the point, we have to try and find talent in areas that we haven’t normally looked for it.
“I do think county pathways will be looking to make sure they don’t miss out on this talent. It’s just about punching through all of our normal procedures and finding ways to both get people in the game and unearthing that talent which may be unorthodox and great.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
