David 'Bumble' Lloyd to make commentary return two years after Sky Sports axe
Veteran cricket commentator David 'Bumble' Lloyd will come out of retirement to join talkSPORT's coverage, a little over two years after his controversial Sky Sports exit.
Lloyd retired from Sky duty in December 2021, later saying his race had been run with the broadcaster. He had earlier been accused of trying to smear Azeem Rafiq amid the former Yorkshire star's allegations of racism at the club, with Sky pledging to investigate the allegations before Lloyd's departure.
The 76-year-old, who played for Lancashire and England in a lengthy cricket career before turning to broadcasting, apologised to Rafiq "for any offence caused". Now, after two years away, he is due back in the commentary booth for England's tour of India at the end of the month.
"Chuffed is an understatement!" Lloyd said on social media when sharing talkSPORT's announcement of his return. "So pleased."
A number of cricketers past and present will be part of talkSPORT's coverage. Lloyd is set to be joined by, among others, Steve Harmison, Darren Gough, Kevin Pietersen, Alex Tudor, Gareth Batty and Phoebe Graham.
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"Now they have clawed things right back and it's absolutely taboo to say anything that can be misinterpreted," Lloyd told The Mail in 2022 when reflecting on his Sky Sports exit. "There can be no innuendo. One word out of place now and you will spend your life apologising for it."
Rafiq told a DCMS committee in November 2021 that Lloyd had been "messaging other members of the media who supported me saying stuff like 'the club houses are the life blood of a club and Asian players don't go in there', 'getting subs out of Asian players is like getting blood out of stone'".
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Azeem Rafiq received an apology from David Lloyd in 2021 (PA)"[Lloyd has] been an England coach, commentator, and I found it disturbing because Sky are supposedly doing this amazing work on bringing racism to the front and within a week of me speaking out that's what I got sent to me," he added. "And I thought, 'Gosh, there's some closet racists and we need to do something about it'."
In response, Lloyd issued a statement on social media. "In October 2020, I had a private message exchange with a third party involved in cricket, about a number of topics," he began.
"In these messages, I referred to allegations about Azeem Rafiq which I had heard from within the game. I also made some comments about the Asian cricket community. I deeply regret my actions, and I apologise most sincerely to Azeem and to the Asian cricket community for doing this, and for any offence caused.
"I am strongly committed to making cricket a more inclusive sport. It is very obvious now that more work needs to be done and I will do everything I can to remove discrimination from the sport I love, and the sport that has been my life for over 50 years."
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