Black people don’t have say on how English cricket is run, claims Michael Carberry

On the back of the #BlackLivesMatter movement across the world, West Indies’ Darren Sammy, recently, brought to light about casual racism he faced in the Indian Premier League (IPL) back in 2013 and the Windies man’s comments have since led to several people speaking out against inherent racism in the game. Windies cricketers Chris Gayle and Jason Holder, too, spoke about the sensitive topic and Sammy’s brave comments have garnered the all-rounder an enormous amount of support from fans, fellow athletes and ex-sportsmen.

And now, former English cricketer Michael Carberry has come out with a scathing statement of his own and has accused the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) of depriving Black people the opportunity to run cricket in the country. Carberry stated that cricket is ‘rife with racism’ and pointed out how the people in English cricket holding the top jobs - be it the Chairman or Director - have all been white people.

“To be honest, I think cricket is rife with racism. The issue you have in cricket is that the people running the game don’t care about the Black people in it, it’s as simple as that. Black people are not important to the structure of English cricket,” Carberry said on the Cricket Badger podcast, reported Wisden.

“If you look around English cricket at the moment, in the important areas of the game, where the important decisions are made, name one Black man that is in that important position. We’re talking about the Andrew Strauss role, or the Ashley Giles role. Which Black man has ever had the opportunity to make the big decisions on England cricket? Not one.”

Carberry, who played 6 Tests for England between 2010 and 2014, noted how the absence of Black coaches at the county level pointed to people of colour being deprived of opportunities at the top level by the English cricket system. The 39-year-old revealed that he, in fact, knows plenty of people who are qualified to coach teams at the domestic level.

“You scale down a touch, you’re now looking at England head coaches. When has there ever been a Black England head coach? Never. If you look around county cricket, how many Black coaches are there in county cricket? Not one.

“And I know guys who have gone and done their level three and level four, so they are more than equipped to do the job and have played a long time. You know why? The system will never give them the job.”

The 39-year-old, who has one fifty to his name in Test cricket, further questioned who a young Black English player coming through the system could take inspiration from, given there are no people of colour running the show and taking the shots at the top of the ladder.

“There are no Black people within the game in poignant decisions that are able to not only make decisions but also inspire the next generation. If I was a young Black boy looking to get into cricket, who am I looking at who can inspire me?,” the former opener questioned.