The Australian cricket team took the knee for the first time in support of the Black Lives Matter movement ahead of their first T20I of the five-match T20I series against the West Indies on Friday (July 9) in St Lucia. Australia had denied kneeling last year against England.
Aaron Finch-led Australia team joined West Indies to take a knee in a stand against racism at the start of the first T20I in St Lucia, where the hosts defeated the tourists by 18 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Apart from the West Indies and Australia players, the support staff of both teams alongside both on-field umpires also performed the gesture to support the BLM campaign in St Lucia.
The Australian team said in a statement said they stood with the West Indies “in condemning racial injustice and discrimination” and would continue to do what they could to educate its citizens.
The Australian team statement reads, “The Australian men’s cricket team stands with the West Indies cricket team in condemning racial injustice and discrimination, both at home in Australia, and throughout the World.”
It further added, “As a team, we’ll continue to educate ourselves, provide support where possible and create awareness for those who are victims of racial injustice and/or discrimination in any form. We kneel alongside our West Indian friends to recognize and show our support of all those who have been victims of racial injustice and/or discrimination, past and present.”
Meanwhile, Finch had raised the issue of kneeling with Kieron Pollard during the pre-series captain's photoshoot at the hotel but the West Indies skipper has insisted that he didn’t want the opposition teams to take a knee just “because the West Indies are doing it”.
Pollard told reporters, “For me, it's very important, but it's one where I just don't want (teams) to just say that 'we are doing this because we are supporting you guys in this'. You need to be educated about it and you need to understand what you're doing. It's not a matter of us just doing it and you supporting us and we're looking for that sympathy.”
He concluded, “It's one (issue) that's very dear to our hearts. There's a lot of social injustice going around the world when it comes to black people and it's something that we want to continue to educate, not just ourselves, but the entire world to see if we can get on that level playing field.”
(With India Today Inputs)
