The International Cricket Council on Friday (June 5) shared a powerful message “without diversity, cricket is nothing” as racism remained a topic of global debate following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, in police custody.
The incident took place on May 25 in Minneapolis and a video of the same went viral on the same day. In the little footage, a white police officer can be seen pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after the latter stopped moving and started pleading for air.
Floyd’s death sparked days of protests across the United States while demonstration was held in various countries in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
The ICC posted a 90-second video clip of the final moments of England's 2019 World Cup triumph with Barbados-born Jofra Archer bowling the thrilling Super Over against New Zealand.
"Without diversity, cricket is nothing. Without diversity, you don't get the full picture," read ICC's message on Twitter.
The England team that lifted the ODI World Cup last year had an Irishman (Eoin Morgan) as captain. Player-of-the-Final was a New Zealand born all-rounder (Ben Stokes), spinners were of Pakistani origin (Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid) and opener was from South African heritage (Jason Roy).
In fact, Morgan after the World Cup victory spoke about how different players coming together from different backgrounds is actually one of the biggest strengths of his England team.
Earlier this week, West Indies cricketers like Chris Gayle and Daren Sammy have come out to speak openly against the racism faced by people of colour throughout the world.
In fact, Sammy had urged the ICC to condemn such behaviour.
(With PTI inputs)
