Tino Best: Faced racism while playing club cricket in England
Former West Indies cricketer Tino Best, 38, confessed he had been subject to racial discrimination while playing club cricket in England.
Published : Jun 12, 2020 19:54 IST
Former West Indies cricketer Tino Best has joined Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle in publicly raising his voice against racism, recalling the discrimination he faced while playing club cricket in England.
"I experienced it for sure playing club cricket in England. I was always targeted there. The umpires never gave decisions in our favour. I used to get guys out but the umpires used to call it a late no ball. Late as in very late... I knock the stumps out and then suddenly they were like no ball.
"I used to be like 'Are you serious?' and they were like, 'Do you want to get in a fight? Then leave.' So that is one of the reasons why I never really liked to play club cricket in England because of the umpires and other teams," said Tino during a conversation with Dr Yash Kashikar on his
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The 38-year-old, who has 57 Test wickets from 25 matches, added, "I would go and play club cricket anywhere in the world but not in England. It’s a very racial place."
There have been worldwide protests since the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white policeman in Minneapolis on May 25.
"So what Darren (Sammy) and Chris (Gayle) are saying is absolutely true... I feel whenever anyone faces racism, call it out, speak about it and don’t fear about the consequences," said Tino, who had recently been to India to play for the West Indies Legends in the Road Safety World Series.