Andrew Strauss: Multi-cultural outlook vital in at this time’s cricket

Former England captain Andrew Strauss has urged cricketers to keep away from dressing room banter bordering on racial harassment and bullying to be able to avert controversies just like the one involving Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq.

Rafiq, the Pakistan-born cricketer, performed for county aspect Yorkshire for nearly a decade. He had informed U.Ok.’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in November 2021 that racist feedback and actions by fellow cricketers had left him “close to taking his own life.”

Strauss, the previous England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) director of cricket, mentioned throughout his Marylebone Cricket Club Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on Wednesday that with gamers of various nationalities and races now sharing dressing rooms greater than ever, cricketers must be extra guarded in what they are saying and do.

“As we move forward together as a game with players of different genders, races, creeds and beliefs coming together, so the traditional macho, hierarchical, perhaps at times verging on bullying dressing-room banter will need to be softened to a culture that is more tolerant, understanding, welcoming and embracing of difference,” Strauss, one of the profitable England captains, was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

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Strauss additionally highlighted the importance of the spirit of cricket, saying the occasions of the final year-and-a-half — when the Azeem Rafiq scandal unfolded and tarnished the picture of England cricket — had proven much more wanted to be finished to revive the picture of the sport.

“Perhaps more importantly the spirit of cricket needs to accompany modern players and I am speaking primarily about the men’s game now into an area that neither the prying eyes of the media or the feverish adulation of the fans penetrates; the dressing room,” Strauss mentioned.

“The events over the last 18 months, whether they come from Yorkshire or elsewhere have shown we have a lot of work to do in this area, but the spirit of cricket demands this.”

Changing Test cricket

With England profitable 9 of the ten Tests below coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, Strauss mentioned the approaching collectively of the duo had led to an enormous tactical shift in the best way the longest format is being performed now. England’s run of victories in Tests in opposition to India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan final yr noticed them erase the frustration of getting received only one in 17 video games earlier than the pair was appointed.

“The coming together of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in May last year has shifted the game of Test cricket from its foundations and has asked some fundamental questions of the centuries-old accepted truths of the Test format,” mentioned Strauss.

“What those two extraordinary leaders of men — aided in no small part by Rob Key as director of cricket — have done, is redefine once again what the game of cricket is actually about.”

With quite a lot of speak about Test cricket shedding its significance amid the onslaught of home T20 leagues internationally, Strauss indicated that the recognition of conventional rivalries just like the Ashes and sequence between main Test-playing nations won’t ever exit of style, although some debt-laden nationwide governing our bodies may very well be at a drawback.

“It is inevitable that some old institutions might creak at the seams, including some debt-laden national governing bodies and professional clubs,” mentioned Strauss.

“Also, bilateral cricket in the way that we see it today is likely to be squeezed in one way shape or form. I firmly believe that the Test series that capture our imaginations today — the ones that we really look forward to — aren’t going anywhere.”