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Profile: Kamlesh Patel

13/11/2021

Kamlesh Patel

BBC Radio 4 - Profile, Kamlesh Patel

The former ambulance driver trying to save Yorkshire County Cricket Club from collapse.

In the wake of a major racism row, can new Yorkshire County Cricket chair Kamlesh Patel deliver the club from the biggest crisis in its 158-year history?

He came to Britain as a toddler - one of several thousand Indian immigrants from Kenya.

Raised in poverty in 1960s Bradford, Kamlesh Patel was targeted by skinheads – and sought solace playing cricket in a field with other south Asian friends.

Almost 50 years later - now a peer - Lord Patel is tasked with trying to repair the reputation of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, which has been accused of systemic racism. 

As MPs begin their own investigation, Mark Coles follows Kamlesh Patel's remarkable journey from schoolboy cricketer and one time ambulance driver to social worker, academic, the House of Lords and now chair of the club he always dreamed of playing for. 

Presenter: Mark Coles
Producer: Ben Crighton

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