Pull up racists: Holder

Manchester, June 28: West Indies skipper Jason Holder has called for strict action against players found guilty of making racist comments, saying they should be penalised just like dope offenders and match-fixers.

“I don’t think the penalty for doping or corruption should be any different for racism. If we’ve got issues within our sport, we must deal with them equally,” Holder told BBC Sport.

According to ICC rules, a player can be banned for life for on-pitch racist abuse if he breaches the anti-racism code three times. A first offence results in four to eight suspension points.

Two suspension points equate to a ban for one Test or two one-day internationals or two T20 international matches.

Holder, who is set to lead his side against England in the three-Test series, said anti-racism feature can be introduced where players will be briefed about the issue ahead of each 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 experience any racial abuse first hand but have heard or seen a few things around it,” he added.

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