Amidst Corona
fears and lockdown, Cricket is happening albeit sans spectators – can you
identify this woman seen with Isha Guha ?
In the 2nd Test
at Old Trafford, a delayed start, a full
day lost due to rain could not save West
Indies. The match was far more
engrossing that what the scorecard suggests - England 469 for 9 declared (Stokes 176, Sibley
120, Chase 5-172) and 129 for 3 declared (Stokes 78*) beat West Indies 287
(Brathwaite 75*, Brooks 68, Chase 51, Broad 3-66) and 198 (Brooks 62, Blackwood
55, Broad 3-42) by 113 runs
Ben Stokes, match winner,
series saviour. That was the bottom line as England kept alive their quest for
the Wisden Trophy with victory in the second Test to level their series against
West Indies 1-1. The hosts' 113-run triumph was built on a towering performance
with bat and ball from Stokes and means both teams start the third and final
Test, also at Emirates Old Trafford, on Friday with it all to play for.
The commentary
was interesting ! - when the West Indies players were peppered with shortballs, Michael Holding wielding the mike said, in his
playing days - we were instructed to
stay till the cows returned home (sound familiar) and went on to explain, in
Caribbean, the farmers would go out with their cattle & return late in the evening when Sun would be
setting ! .. .. then went on to question
the bouncers being bowled by Ben Stokes .. .. he has forgotten his own deeds –
more specifically the bloodbath at Sabina park.
At Port of Spain in 1976, India created record chasing 403 with ease
under Bishan Bedi and bloodbath followed at Sabina Park in Apr 1976. No Andy Roberts – it was Michael Holding,
Wayne Daniel, Bernard Julian and Vanburn Holder. West Indies won the Jamaica Test by picking
up just 11 legitimate wickets. Anshuman Gaekwad, Gundappa Viswanath and Brijesh
Patel suffered serious injuries in trying to counter the terrifying West Indian
bowling, in fact Mohinder, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar and every other batsman were
hit and were bleeding.
After the
happenings in USA and the rallies in UK – there is more on BLM and the way some
had suffered .. .. .. former
cricketers Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent called for an end to
institutionalised racism through fundamental change in society and better
education. Brent,
who – if you wonder ? – the same woman holding the mike and commenting during
these 2 tests.
The delay on the opening
day of the first Test at Southampton between England and West Indies presented
an opportunity for West Indies pacer Michael Holding, Rainford-Brent (the first black
female cricketer to play cricket for England) along with former England captain
Nasser Hussain to speak about their experiences of racism in cricket and why
the Black Lives Matter movement was important. Holding delivered a powerful and emotive
speech explaining why the black lives matter movement has to
lead to a change in education, having drawn on not only their own experiences but
those witnessed in recent months to detail how society is “brainwashed” into
unconscious racism.
Ahead of the Test series
between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, Holding
and Rainford-Brent took part in a feature that detailed their own experiences
of racism. World Cup-winner Rainford-Brent, the first female black player to
play for England before her retirement at the start of the decade, revealed the
everyday racial slurs that she received, which impacted how she developed her
personality to brush and laugh off anything that was said to her in relation to
being black.
“Education
is important unless we just want to continue living the life we are living and
continue us having demonstrations every now and again and having people say a
few things,” Holding said. He referred
even to the portrayals of Christ and Judas and how black was portrayed to be the colour of bad !! Ward
turned to Hussain to ask whether he had experienced racism during his lifetime.
Born to an Indian father and an English mother, Hussein revealed how he would
be abused for his background during games while fielding close to fans, and
though he did not want to compare it to what Holding and Rainford-Brent had
suffered, the message still echoed a society where racial abuse is deemed
acceptable.
Ebony-Jewel
Cora-Lee Camellia Rosamond Rainford-Brent has carved out a name more than her
long name. After making her England debut at the age of
17 in 2001, Rainford-Brent suffered the second serious back injury of her
career and was out of cricket for two years. She had to take a year away from
university and was even advised by the NHS to give up sport full stop, in case
she suffered further injuries. She represented England in 22 ODI and 7 T20Is.
In Dec 2014 - England
and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has welcomed Surrey’s appointment of the Ashes
and World Cup winner Ebony Rainford-Brent as their first director of women’s
cricket. Rainford-Brent’s oldest brother
was murdered in Brixton when she was five years old. She came from a sporting
family but her potential was spotted randomly during a weekend session at
Stockwell Park school in Lambeth, run by the Cricket for Change charity.
In March 2020, Surrey
County Cricket Club launched the African Caribbean Engagement (ACE) Programme
offering new opportunities for young African-Caribbean cricketers to enter the
Club’s performance pathway. Targeting 11-18 year old boys and girls with
sporting potential, the initiative intends to break down barriers for the local
African Caribbean community by providing Level 3 ECB qualified cricket
coaching, sports science and personal development education, equipment &
travel grants as well as chances to meet inspirational role models from their
community. Former Surrey and England bowler Alex Tudor unveiled
the programme alongside founder Ebony
Rainford-Brent.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
23.7.2020
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