The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Monday (June 1) shared a powerful image of Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler sharing a hug after victory in the last year's 50-over World Cup final at Lord's.
The picture, captioned "we stand for diversity, we stand against racism", was shared following a coloured man George Floyd's death after a white police officer knelt on his neck, which has sparked a nationwide protest in the United States.
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The protest against racism is receiving support from all parts of the world, with the ECB becoming first among the cricket fraternity to openly back the movement 'Black Lives Matter'.
Sport being the best vehicle to champion for the cause of acceptance for diversity, skipper Eoin Morgan, himself an Irish-born, had expressed how different players coming together from different backgrounds is actually one of the biggest strengths of his England team.
Morgan's sentiment after the World Cup final against New Zealand was echoed by Moeen Ali, the team's Muslim off-spinner.
"I saw Eoin Morgan mentioned in the press conference how Rash had told him that Allah was with us, and he replied that, for him, it was the rub of the green. You won’t be surprised to hear I was with Rash on this," Moeen wrote in a column for The Guardian at the time. "Morgs (Morgan) was dead right to highlight how the different opinions on such things in this dressing room are actually part of our strength. We are an incredibly diverse team from different backgrounds and cultures but, crucially, we respect this and embrace it. We never shy away from it."
"It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you believe in, if you can come together with a common purpose – in our case winning the World Cup – and you show courage, unity and respect (our team mantra) you can achieve anything," he added.
"Respect is having respect for the people you play with and against, and respect for the shirt. Unity is about sticking together but also uniting the country. That was always the bigger cause for us, not just the cricket."
Moeen, and wrist-spinner Rashid, another practising Muslim, their teammates waited for them to take a picture with the rest of them and move away from the podium before they could spray the drinks all over each other, understanding the fact that duo's faith forbids them from consuming alcohol.
"I find it weird that people still think it is strange that we do it. We respect our teammates and their desire to do this, they respect our beliefs. It’s really that simple."
"The amazing thing about our team is that guys took time out very early on to talk to us about our religion and our culture. They have made adjustments for us and we have for them. And we live in harmony," Moeen wrote.
(Inputs from The Guardian)
