Comment: ‘Ballance’s apology reminds me of infamous Gatting moment’ - Chris Waters

You may remember it yourself.

England were playing Pakistan in the second Test of a three-match series.

Shortly before stumps on day two, Mike Gatting, the England captain, became embroiled in an extraordinary on-field row with umpire Shakoor Rana, who’d accused him of sharp practice in allegedly moving a fielder without informing the batsman, a claim Gatting denied. There followed a furious finger-wagging exchange that was beamed across the world, with Shakoor accusing Gatting of abusing him and Gatting claiming that he was sworn at first and also called a cheat.

The following morning, Shakoor refused to take to the field unless he received an apology from Gatting, who declined the invitation unless Shakoor reciprocated.

A stand-off ensued and the third day’s play was lost as officials on both sides sought a solution.

Eventually, after negotiations went on into the night and the subsequent rest day, the match resumed after the Test and County Cricket Board demanded Gatting back down and apologise.

He handed Shakoor a handwritten note which read: “Dear Shakoor Rana, I apologise for the bad language used during the 2nd day of the Test match at Fisalabad (sic). Mike Gatting, 11th Dec 1987.”

It is not known whether Ballance’s apology was delivered through similarly gritted teeth, but there have been plenty of rumours knocking around lately, almost a year since Ballance last played first-team cricket for Yorkshire.

Ballance admitted last November that he and Rafiq used to say things to each other that were unacceptable in the context of two former close friends/team-mates trading insults; in his case, including use of the P-word, but insisted that no malice was meant and that it was back-and-forth, six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other.

Back then, Ballance said only that he “deeply regretted” his use of language as opposed to actually apologising to Rafiq. The clear inference was that Ballance felt it had been blown out of all proportion and made to be something it never was, a view effectively endorsed by the independent investigation into Rafiq’s claims of racism at the club, extracts of which I’ve seen.

Indeed, the investigation puts particular stock in Ballance’s evidence, his co-operation and his admission of guilt, whereas the extracts, in contrast, appear dismissive of some of Rafiq’s evidence, with terms such as “not credible” and “contradicted by the evidence of other witnesses” sprinkled around.

The extracts also include claims by Ballance that Rafiq would direct racially insensitive remarks to him such as telling him to “f*** off back to Zimbabwe”.

In fact, the panel found that Rafiq “often made comments about GB’s nationality/heritage” and would “often make jokes about his Zimbabwean nationality”.

What is this? It’s puerility beyond measure, that much is clear, the sort of stuff that reflects badly on both men.

Now Ballance has apologised and, according to Rafiq, is now “part of the solution”.

But where was Rafiq’s apology to Ballance?