The England cricket team would take a knee against the West Indies on October 23 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Group 1 Super 12 action in the 2021 T20 World Cup. England captain Eoin Morgan confirms the same. In 2020, the tragedy of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
Since, a number of existing and past cricketers have spoken out against racism in a variety of contexts. While international cricket resumes in the COVID-19 outbreak, the West Indies visited England in July 2020 for a Test series. Before the commencement of the Test matches, the players from both sides took a knee.
ENG will join WI in taking knee ahead of World Cup opener
The British did the same during their limited-overs series versus Ireland. In terms of the World Cup, Papua New Guinea team took a knee before their match versus Scotland on Tuesday, October 19, and England will now eventually follow.
“We have heard from the West Indies that they will be taking a knee and we will be joining them for the first game,” Morgan was quoted as saying in a video conference on Tuesday, October 19.
Earlier, England fast bowler Chris Jordan discussed kneeling during the team’s game against the West Indies team.
“We’ll discuss it and if people feel strongly about, we’ll definitely do it. On the flipside, if we don’t, then we won’t,” Jordan said.
Legendary West Indies cricketer Michael Holding had expressed his disappointment after England team quit taking a knee during their 2020 series versus Ireland.
“Games going on from there, we’ve been speaking to the ICC about the potential moment of unity before the game that we’ve been doing as part of our own piece at home. It hasn’t been cleared up whether that’s a possibility yet,” he added.
“Now that the West Indies team has gone home, that doesn’t mean that you still shouldn’t be respecting the message and exactly what it stands for,” Holding had said.
Holding previously slammed out at the ECB after they canceled their trip to Pakistan in October.
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