London, June 12 (IANS) England pace spearhead James Anderson has said it is the responsibility of cricketers to ensure the game is for everyone and the recent killing of African-American George Floyd, which has caused global protests, has made him ‘do a lot of thinking’.
“That’s just not okay,” Anderson said on Cricbuzz. “As a game we need to actively make this game for everyone. It can’t keep going the way it is. It’s just not okay.”
Anderson said the last few weeks had been “thought-provoking” and added that the England squad would discuss whether they wanted to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement during next month’s Test series against the West Indies.
“Absolutely I expect that to be a conversation we have,” he said.
“It’s made me do a lot of thinking. We will have conversations about what we can do as players to make a stand, definitely.”
Anderson, who had been out of the game since injuring his rib during the South Africa tour in January, also spoke about the abuse faced by England teammate Jofra Archer during a tour of New Zealand last year where he was not present.
“It’s something as players and a game we need to be more active,” he said.
“It’s made me think, have I experienced racism on a cricket field? I couldn’t remember any instances. I wasn’t in New Zealand when Jofra (Archer) was racially abused. It made me think and it made me think have I turned a blind eye to things? I’d try to support my team-mates if they did suffer any sort of abuse but have I been active in supporting them?”
Meanwhile, West Indies cricketer Darren Sammy after pointing that he has been subjected to racial slur in the Sunrisers Hyderabad dressing room has now revealed that he had a conversation with one of them and is looking at ways to educate people against racism.
The all-rounder had expressed anger upon realising the meaning of the word ‘kaalu’ which he said was used to refer to him and Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera when the pair played for SRH. In fact, an Ishant Sharma post from 2014 confirmed the same.
Sammy in a new tweet has now said that he had a conversation with one of the guys and is happy to believe the cricketer and said that he would look forward to educating people against racism.
–IANS
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