Pakistan fan ejection at Old Trafford: Lancashire apologise for 'any upset and offence caused'

Lancashire have apologised for an incident at the Old Trafford Test between England and India where a fan was ejected from the ground after he refused to cover his Pakistan team t-shirt.

Farooq Nazar, the fan in question, posted a video on social media documenting the sequence of events, which started with a request from a member of the security staff that he cover the shirt, a replica of Pakistan's traditional green limited-overs kit.

The security guard, who identified himself as working for Lancashire, said he had been sent by "control" to ask for the shirt to be covered. Nazar refused. He was subsequently escorted away by police officers and, according to a statement from Lancashire, "asked to leave the stadium by stewards and police officers due to unacceptable behaviour directed towards the stewarding team".

In the days since - the incident took place on the last day, a Sunday, of the Test - the club conducted an internal review and apologised for "any upset and offence caused which was not intended and will review its procedures for handling similar situations in the future".

Lancashire, however, explained that a separate incident at the ground between a set of Indian and Pakistani fans on the Saturday of the Test influenced their handling of the situation with Nazar.

"Firstly, we wish to make it clear that there was no intention to remove the individual simply for wearing a Pakistan cricket shirt," the club said in a statement. "The approach taken was informed by an incident on Saturday, during which a group of supporters waved a Pakistan national flag, leading to tensions with nearby Indian fans. In that case, our stewards were able to de-escalate the situation by respectfully asking the individuals to put the flag away, which they did without hesitation.

"In light of this context, our team adopted a precautionary, safety-first approach on Sunday. A stand supervisor politely asked the individual to cover his shirt in the interest of his own safety and to avoid any potential escalation. Despite several courteous requests from the supervisor and the response team, the individual repeatedly declined to comply."

Earlier, the ECB CEO Richard Gould had said Nazar was known to the ECB from previous years.

"There may well be a context [to what happened] and I know the ground is looking at that, and we've also referred it along to the Cricket Regulator to make sure that they're aware," Gould said.

Relations between India and Pakistan, have been at a low following a brief military skirmish between the two countries in May. Those tensions have filtered into relations between the BCCI and PCB; the two sides have not played a bilateral series since 2012-13 and no Test cricket since 2007-08. Their participation in ICC events hosted by either country has also recently become an issue, with a neutral venue added in to stage their games as part of a hybrid solution to the issue.

Earlier this week, an India veterans team refused to play their Pakistan counterparts in two games - including the semi-final, which they forfeited - of a legends tournament in Birmingham.