Australia cricket team head coach Justin Langer has admitted that they should have thought more on if they wanted to take a knee to show their support to the anti-racism ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement during their limited-overs series against England.
Langer’s comments have come after former West Indies pacer Michael Holding criticised the England, Pakistan and Australia cricketers for not taking a knee in their recent and ongoing limited-overs series.
“When Mikey says what he says, it’s certainly worth listening to. In terms of taking a knee, to be completely honest, we could have talked more about it perhaps leading up to the first game,” Langer said as quoted by Sky Sports ahead of their deciding ODI against World champions England on Wednesday.
“There was so much going on leading up to us getting here, maybe we should have talked more about it. What we do talk about within the team, was that we want to have a response that is sustained and powerful, and that it can go not just in one action but a sustained period. Not just throughout this series and the summer but throughout time.
“I just hope if it looked like there was a lack of respect, it wasn’t the intention of our team. We were very aware of it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Holding had lashed out at the ECB, saying that after the series against the West Indies the board did not ask the players to continue with the practice of taking a knee before a match. “Now that the West Indies team has gone home, that doesn’t mean that you still shouldn’t be respecting the message and what it stands for,” Holding told Sky Sports.
Informing that his team would not take a knee, Australia captain Aaron Finch had earlier said that “education is more important than the protest”.
Holder countered, “(Finch) is saying that he’s glad he is part of a sport where no one is barred from playing, irrespective of your race, your gender, your ethnicity, your religion.”
“Well, I don’t know any sport where anyone is barred from playing because of anything at all. So that’s a pretty lame statement.
“I’m not here to try to force people to do what they do not want to do. If you think you do not need to sympathise with and recognise the movement, just say that. Don’t come up with lame excuses,” he added.