Survey reveals more than 1/3rd of Asian and Black cricketers face racism in England

A survey done by the Professional Cricketers' Association of England has found that more than 1/3rd of the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) cricketers in the country have faced some or the other form of racism and, or prejudice while being involved with the game.

This has forced England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to introduce anti-racism training courses for both men and women cricket players in the upcoming year. The courses will cover dressing room culture, raise awareness of how behaviour can be interpreted by different cultures and encourage people to challenge anything they deem to be unacceptable after

The decision to include such courses was specially made after finding that even 'banter' was identified as a mask for racism.

In the Survey it was found that 45 per cent of more than 600 respondents claimed that racism had come from a fellow player, 10 percent said it was from a coach, and around 30 percent had experienced it on social media or from fans.

Not all the players responded to the Questionnaire sent by the PCA as only 173 professionals returned the mail. But even among these 173, 24 were identified as being from the BAME backgrounds which is around 90 per cent of the number of BAME players in the game right now.

Charlie Mulraine, the PCA's lead personal development manager said that it would have been far better if the vast majority of players had responded. “Why they didn't is very difficult to speculate," he added.

Rob Lynch, the PCA's chief executive though is of the belief that it’s just a start and they could go to higher levels with bringing parity in the game. "We needed to start somewhere. This gives us a clear direction of travel and it is an ambition to increase engagement with our members on this issue," he said.

The racism Brown in England cricket started after former Yorkshire and England U-19 skipper Azeem Rafiq said that he contemplated suicide after continuous racial abuse that he underwent at Yorkshire.

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PAK vs SA: Fawad Alam calls his lost decade in international cricket his destiny

Fawad Alam was one of the emerging cricket in Pakistan cricket when he made his debut in 2010 against Sri Lanka and he announced his arrival with bang and scored a splendid century on his Test debut. However, the left hander faced setbacks and the Pakistan team management under various leadership groups overlooked Fawad Alam’s batting records in the domestic circuit. Having spent a decade away from the game at the highest level, Alam has announced his arrival once again. He has scored two centuries for Pakistan when the team was staring at a disaster against a good bowling attack. First he scored a century on the tour of New Zealand where all Pakistan batsmen struggled for runs, and another ton came yesterday when Pakistan were once again under pressure against a wobbly start against South Africa. For Alam, all those years in exile was part of his destiny and hence he never blamed anyone for the time away from Pakistan team. Alam after completing a splendid century said that if playing for Pakistan again was in his destiny, no one could deny him that opportunity and that he was willing to wait for his chances. He is optimistic and is not looking back at the time away from international cricket as a decade lost, instead he is focussing more on making the most of the chances. “Whenever I spoke to the media, I have never blamed anyone for not playing international cricket for 10 years. If it was in my destiny, then nobody could have taken it away from me. I am not thinking about the 10 years that have gone by, I am focussed on what my destiny has in store for me," Alam said. "I am looking to perform in whatever chances I get, even in domestic cricket as it's my bread and butter. I am not thinking on the lines that I have lost 10 years. I don't think about the 10 years going to waste. How can I say all the runs and records made in domestic cricket went in vain? I thank the almighty for whatever I have achieved and the respect that I have earned." He recognised the occasion of playing Test cricket at the National Stadium in Karachi as the special one as it was also his first international Test match on his home soil. Notably, Alam had made his first-class debut at the same ground in 2010. "I had my heart set on playing a Test match at my home ground in Karachi. This was also my Test debut in Pakistan and I had asked the Almighty to give me respect at my home venue and he did that," Alam concluded. Fawad Alam finished with the score of 109 that propelled Pakistan to a 158 run lead over South Africa in the first Test match of the series. Pakistan finished their first innings at 378 runs.

PAK vs SA: Kagiso Rabada reaches 200 Test wicket milestone in Tests

South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada has reached the landmark of 200 wickets in Tests and became the third-fastest South African to reach the milestone in his 44th Test. He reached the landmark with the wicket of Hassan Ali who heaved across the line to get bowled in the ongoing first Test between Pakistan and South Africa at the National Stadium in Karachi. He has taken his wickets at an average of 22.88 runs per wicket which makes him one of the best bowlers of this era. He made his Test debut against India in 2015 and has not looked back since in his career. He has taken nine five-wickets hauls in an innings of Test matches while a 10-wicket haul in a Test match has been achieved four times by the 25-year-old. Rabada has also registered his name on the list of the youngest bowlers to take 200 wickets in Tests, as he has become fourth youngest to pass the 200 Test wickets-mark. He is behind Waqar Younis, Kapil Dev, and Harbhajan Singh on the list of youngest bowlers when they took their 200 wickets in the longest format of the game. Rabada also stands at the third position on the fewest number of balls bowled to take 200 wickets behind Waqra Younis who bowled 7730 balls and Dale Steyn who bowled 7848 balls to reach the milestone. Rabada has bowled 8154 balls to take his 200th Test wicket.

India prefer India-A as opposition over county teams before Test series against England

The Indian cricket team has opted to play two warm-up games against an India -A side instead of the earlier norm of playing practice games against county teams in the time leading up to the Test series against India. The warm-up games will be played on the county grounds of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire as Virat Kohli-led senior team will challenge an A side that will be picked later on. These two warm-up games will be four-day fixtures and the first one will commence on July 21 at Wantage Road while the final warm-up game has been scheduled to take place from July 28. The series against England will begin at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on August 04. The tickets for these warm-up games will be open for sale in March later this year. The Indian team has shown apprehensions in the past about the quality of pitches and opposition they get in warm-up games and they have for a long time contemplated the option of skipping these practice games before the actual series as they had a belief that these games do not give too much value to their efforts of acclimatising with the pitches and conditions in the country. India on the last tour in 2018 cut short a four-day fixture against Essex due to be played at Chelmsford to a three-day affair and also relegated the status of the game from a first-class fixture to practice game and instead decided to use the one extra day to practice before the first Test in Edgbaston.

SMAT: Bihar impresses on big stage even as Mahipal Lomror takes Rajasthan to semis

Bihar cricket team impressed on the big stage of Indian domestic cricket as they put on a brave fight against a much-fancied Rajasthan side in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mahipal Lomror was the hero for Rajasthan as he single-handedly took his team to 164 which seemed very difficult at one stage with all the main players in the pavilion at the score of 119 in 17 overs. The left-hander hit the last 39 of his 78 runs in just 14 balls of the last three overs at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium in Motera. Bihar, for the first time in their 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign were chasing a total of more than 120 and had a great first over to begin the chase as Babul Kumar hit Aakash Singh for three boundaries. But after that, it was a bit of a struggle as the run rate slowed down and Babul got run out as well. Mangal Mahrour, who had dropped a precious catch of Mahipal Lomror in the first innings then tried to up the ante, but wickets fell in regular intervals and derailed his onslaught. In the end, wicket-keeper batsman Vikash Yadav, who impressed all with his brilliant catch to remove the Rajasthan skipper Ashok Menaria, scored a quick 27 off 17 to keep Bihar in the hunt with 36 required from two overs. But that wasn’t enough as the team finally fell short by 16 runs in the end. Earlier in the day, Bihar skipper Ashutosh Aman won the toss and decided to send Rajasthan to bat first. The decision was backed by his bowlers as they restricted Rajasthan to only 119 till the 17 overs even the openers made a 59 run stand. Aman was the pick of the bowlers as he picked two wickets before being clubbed for three sixes in the final over of the innings as Mahrour dropped Lomror in that over. Aman with these two wickets is now the leading wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 with 16 scalps from six games. Rajasthan have now made it to the semi-finals and would face Tamil Nadu on 29th January.