International cricket made its return after a 117-day hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic when England took on the West Indies in the first match of the 3-Test series at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
The series is being played with the powerful Black Lives Movement in the backdrop and both the Windies team and England are wearing the signs of BLM on their jerseys in support. Both teams took the knee for 30 seconds in solidarity with the BLM movement before the start of play on Wednesday.
West Indies captain Jason Holder says both his team and England putting up a united front to show support for the 'Black Lives Matter' campaign before the start of the first Test meant the "world to him" and he felt Michael Holding's powerful speech on racism "in his veins".
WATCH: Michael Holding breaks down on air as he recalls memories of racism faced by his parents
"It meant the world to me. Just the support from everyone, everyone understanding the moment, everyone understanding the occasion. And to see both teams coming together the way they did, it sent a really strong message," Holder told Sky Sports on Thursday.
Windies fast bowling great Michael Holding was featured in a video tribute to BLM movement made by Sky Sports team talking about racism. Holding talked about how he and the team faced racism back in his playing days and during an interview after the video tribute, broke down on live TV while talking about the impact of that treatment.
The West Indies great said racism would not stop until the entire human race is educated on the subject. He said achievements of blacks have been deliberately omitted from the education system and the race has been dehumanized over several years.
"I happened to be on social media last night, and I saw a few Aussies posting the same pic of everyone on the knee, and it just shows the cricket world is actually unified. But I think we could come a lot closer, we could do a lot more for cricket in general,” Holder said.
"I must say, I saw the interview with Mikey yesterday, and I felt in my veins, to be honest. To me it was powerful, I think he hit the nail on the head, he was spot on," said Holder.
WATCH- Michael Holding breaks down while talking about the Black Lives Matter movement
Holder further added, "For me, it's more of an education. Guys need to make themselves aware of what's in front of us. There's a bigger picture sometimes in sport, but in the grand scheme of things, I just think we just need to be aware, we need to educate ourselves, and we need to have a level playing field for everyone."
Holder was the star for his team, as he picked career-best 6/42 after England’s newest captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first under overcast conditions. England only managed 204 runs in their first innings, with Shannon Gabriel picking the remaining 4 wickets.
Holding was listening to Holder's interview and responded by saying that "I don't think you need to thank me, Jason. I think you guys need to just take the baton and keep on running with it."
(PTI inputs)
