The Spirit of Cricket

Welcome to Twenty Two Yards, a weekly newsletter celebrating cricket's culture and characters.

In this issue:

• The ICEC Report

• Michael Holding Responds

• Shocker in the CWC qualifiers

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The Spirit of Cricket

The Spirit of the Game
Like a Michael Holding fastball to the dome, cricket was dealt a blow just before Test 2 of the Ashes. The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket delivered a 317-page report highlighting the "structural and institutional racism, sexism and class-based discrimination" the cricket board failed to prevent. Although it's an encouraged read, let's summarise the report in bold: a complete failure of those in power to protect, foster and grow the game of cricket, who apparently recommended changes to the findings in fear of legal retaliation.

The ECB offered an apology "unreservedly to anyone who has ever been excluded from cricket or made to feel like they don't belong,"

The lowlights

Widespread discrimination: "50% of respondents described experiencing discrimination in the previous five years… the figures were substantially higher for people from ethnically diverse communities: 87% of people with Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage, 82% of people with Indian heritage and 75% of all Black respondents"

No seats at the table: "In cricket's most senior leadership, South Asian representation is limited to 2.8% despite South Asians making up 26-29% of the game's adult recreational population and 6.9% of the population of England and Wales."

Failed Black communities: Highlighting a great decline "in Black British male professional players of around 75%."

Sorry, ladies: "Women receive an embarrassingly small amount compared to men… the average salary for England Women is 20.6% of the average salary for England Men."

Institutional elitism: "A prevalence of elitism and class-based discrimination in cricket. Much of this is, we believe, structural and institutional in nature, driven partly by the lack of access to cricket in state schools and the way in which the talent pathway is structurally bound up with private schools."

What's next?
Just two years ago, an impassioned Michael Holding broke down in tears while discussing racism with Sky News. See below for an in-depth conversation with Michael Holding.

Amid the Ashes, Ben Stokes acknowledged and apologised for the widespread institutional racism, discrimination and sexism that the ECB has failed to prevent.

ICEC chair Cindy Butts summed it up:

After the 2nd Test in The Ashes, many are questioning "the spirit of cricket" and the injustice of the Aussie / England debacle in the Long Room at Lords, but it's clear that cricket has some other questions to answer first.

Michael Holding Told Us The Truth

For a few months, we’ve been WhatsApping with Michael Holding. Day-to-day, we cover various topics (via text), including internet memes, cricket history and island life, but we called Michael immediately after reading the ICEC report.

The following has been edited for clarity and brevity***

The 317-page ICEC report describes institutional racism and discrimination in the game. What are your initial reactions to the report?

I know that there were 44 recommendations. I also know that the ECB have accepted the report and said, yes, we're not going to try and bottle this up or try to pretend that it's not accurate. And they have actually apologised for what took place previously. So that's a good first step. Everything now depends on what happens in the future.

The report describes 87% of people with Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage, 82% of people with Indian heritage, and 75% of all black respondents reported some racism or discrimination. Are you shocked by the percentages?

No, I'm not shocked at all. I've known about this for a very long time. People of colour who have played cricket in England have known about it. What is surprising, though, is how long it actually took for anyone to say, yes, let us try and do something about it.

Azeem Rafiq has been very, very brave to come forward and pretty much end his career. It’s similar to what happened with Colin Kaepernick in the US. It takes a brave person to take that action, and he must be commended, although he's now being lambasted, and people are cursing him and threatening him.

We noticed three-quarters of those who experience racism and wider discrimination “did not report it to cricketing authorities.” Is it fair to assume they didn't report it because they didn't think anything would happen?

Very fair. That's exactly the point. They would have seen what took place before, “Why bother? I'm the one that will suffer.” I wrote in my book that I was very selfish when confronted with racism because I didn't believe it. Every day I confronted it when I left my home in Jamaica to go overseas to play cricket. When I get back home, it will be behind me. That, as I said, was being very selfish, but that was also protecting myself.

You mentioned your book Why We Kneel How We Rise was the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year, the William Hill Book of the Year, The Times Sports Book of the Year. A Sunday Times bestseller. It has not been published in North America. Why do you think it hasn’t been picked up in the world’s largest media market?

Well, I don't know for sure, but I suspect it is because they don't want to face the truth that that book is telling.

I think of your lived experience and my friends and family’s experiences. I mentioned these issues (as a Caucasian person to them), they say, “We didn’t start this; you guys figure it out.” They’re exhausted by it all. How does that ring to you?

I've been exhausted by it for a long time. You know, even now, the West Indies team is not doing anywhere near as well as they did a couple of decades ago. And you hear people saying in the hierarchy of cricket and cricket boards around the world, “Oh, we need a strong West Indies team.” Deep down, I do not think they really want a strong West Indies team. I think they are personally happy to see the state of West Indies cricket, and they hope that West Indies cricket will never get back to the strength that it had a couple of decades ago. They are just saying things because it sounds nice.

Michael Holding is back next week on the TTY report, The State of Windies.

You can purchase Michael’s book and audiobook (in the UK) here. A strong TTY recommendation.

The Slip Corden

• West Indies knocked out
  For the first time, the West Indies side will stay home for the CWC. Scotland shocked Windies by seven wickets. Sri Lanka has secured a place in the CWC. Zimbabwe, Scotland and the Netherlands look promising too.
  

• Suspension @ Lords
  MCC Chief Exec Guy Lavender announced the suspension of three MCC members for their behaviour in the Long Room as David Warner and Usman Khawaja went to lunch. There’s a reported 29-year waitlist to become a member of the MCC, so your phone might be ringing soon if you’re on the list.

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Issue: The Spirit of Cricket
Publisher: J. LaLonde
Editor-At-Large: Angus Wilson
Contributing Writer: David Scipione
Illustration: Sidney Secolo