Off to the races: Does cricket in England have a racism problem?

Former players narrate different experiences of facing racist remarks in the UK

KARACHI: The recent racism row incident involving young English fast-bowler Craig Overton and Pakistan-born Ashar Zaidi has sparked a debate regarding whether racism is rife in the world of cricket or whether this was just an isolated incident.

Overton, who has been in the England’s one-day squad, allegedly racially abused former Sussex player Zaidi during a County Championship match last season.

According to the reports, Overton allegedly told Zaidi to “go back to your own f****** country” during a match in September and has been given a two-match ban for what the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) called a level-one breach — the lowest of four ECB directives.



Other county teams have not been impressed with the punishment, believing that Overton should have been dealt with more strictly. Yorkshire have been most vocal as their skipper, Andrew Gale, was banned for four matches last year for a similar offence.

Zaidi, who was on song during the recently-concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), has demanded an apology for the incident but had initially said that he did not hear the remarks.

However, despite the incident, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said racism is not as common in cricket in the UK as it is in the more popular sport in the British Isles: football.



“For me, racist slurs are one-off incidents as far as cricket in the UK is concerned, but I can’t say the same about football,” Latif told The Express Tribune. “These issues can flair up so it’s better to deal with them strictly internally rather than blowing them out of proportion in the international media. We need to protect the image of cricket and hopefully the ECB will do its job to ensure that these incidents are minimised.”

Zaidi has also accused the ECB of showing leniency in labelling Overton’s remarks as a level one offence.

Pakistan’s banned leg-spinner Danish Kaneria — who has throughout maintained that he has been made the scapegoat by the ECB in a domestic match spot-fixing case — had a different view on the subject, and said racism is regularly faced by foreign players but they are afraid to report it.



“I can safely say that I’ve seen plenty of racism cases, but they have never been dealt with properly in the UK,” said Kaneria. “The authorities should come up with stricter measures to curb the issue.”

The former leg-spinner also felt the ECB has a hand to play in increased racism. “There is certainly a bias towards players who come from outside the UK, while local players are always protected,” he said. “This disparity should end because ultimately, everyone wants cricket to flourish.”

Another Pakistan Test player, who asked to remain anonymous as he is still currently active and plays in the UK, stated that abusive language should not be tolerated whether it be in the UK or Pakistan as it brings the game into disrepute.

“The players, the officials and the boards should be strictly intolerant towards abusive and racist behaviour,” he said. “There must be a line drawn between sledging and abusing.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2015.

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