Jofra Archer insists England have not forgotten about Black Lives Matter despite no longer taking a knee

England players took a knee alongside their opponents in the series against West Indies and Ireland in July.
Getty Images
Will Macpherson14 September 2020

Jofra Archer says England’s cricketers have not forgotten about the Black Lives Matter movement despite not taking a knee in the second half of the summer.

England joined other sportspeople across the globe in taking a knee alongside their opponents in the series against West Indies and Ireland in July, but have not done so when Pakistan and Australia have toured later in the summer.

This led to West Indies legend Michael Holding – who delivered impassioned testimony about his own experience of racism on Sky’s coverage of the opening day of the summer – to criticise the teams for no longer taking a knee.

But Archer, who took three for 34 as England levelled the ODI series against Australia in stunning fashion, defended the players’ actions.

“I think it is a bit harsh for Mikey to not do some research before criticising,” he said.

“I’m pretty sure Michael Holding doesn’t know anything that is going on behind the scenes. I don’t think he has spoken to [ECB CEO] Tom Harrison. I think that is a bit harsh for him to say that. I’ve spoken to Tom and we have stuff running in the background. We’ve not forgotten, no-one here has forgotten about Black Lives Matter.”

Archer regularly receives racist abuse on social media and has taken to posting about it. He believes social media companies need to be tougher in combating the problem.

"As long as there is social media, as long as the person does not have to confront you, I think it will still go on," Archer said.

"My mum always says you can't think for people. All we can do is try to act accordingly, report it and do what's best.

"I'm strong enough to deal with it, but what happens when they start targeting someone that isn't mentally as strong and it starts affecting them?

"We've got to try to stamp it out as much as possible."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in