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MANCHESTER: West Indies captain Jason Holder wants racism to be treated as seriously as doping and match-fixing in cricket.
“I don’t think the penalty for doping or corruption should be any different for racism,” Holder told British media.“If we’ve got issues within our sport, we must deal with them equally.”
Under the anti-racism code of the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), the sanction for a first offence by a player can be up to a ban for four tests or eight limited-overs matches. a third breach of the code by a player could lead to a life ban.
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Holder said teams should be briefed about race issues before the start of any series. “In addition to having anti-doping briefings and anti-corruption briefings, maybe we should have an anti-racism feature before we start a series,” he said.
“My message is more education needs to go around it. I’ve not experienced any racial abuse first hand but have heard or seen a few things around it. It’s something you just can’t stand for.”
Earlier this month, former West Indies captains Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle said they have experienced racist abuse and showed support towards the Black Lives Matters campaign.
England will consider a joint anti-racism protest with West Indies during the three-test series between the two sides next month.
