THERE IS NOT ONE BLACK FACE MAKING KEY DECISIONS IN ENGLISH CRICKET SAYS FORMER ENGLAND OPENER MICHAEL CARBERRY

AFTER Raheem Sterling highlighted the deep- rooted racism that still exists in football earlier this week, Michael Carberry has raised some uncomfortable home truths for cricket.

The former England batsman opened up to Sportsmail about the ‘horrific’ racism he suffered throughout his career and, like Sterling, called for greater BAME representation in crucial decision-making bodies like the ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).

‘The racism is worse the higher you go because, for some reason, people have the freedom to say what they want,’ he says. ‘The higher you go up the chain, my kind become fewer and fewer, you are on your own. What other black faces were there when I made my Test debut? Not one. So I’m one of one. You are singled out all the time.

‘Put it this way, I don’t think my skin colour helped me in any way. I’ve experienced racist comments from coaches, I’ve been ignored in teams even when I was comfortably the best batsman across the country in terms of the national averages.’

England’s World Cup-winning squad last summer was championed for its inclusivity and multi-culturalism. The ECB have also made efforts recently to make the sport more inclusive but Carberry is adamant English cricket lacks BAME figures in important positions.

‘Look at the numbers, nothing has changed,’ he says. ‘I look at the current ECB roster, there’s not one black face making the important decisions in our so-called great game.

‘Look at the people making the decisions at the PCA: not one black face. Look around the county game, what black county coaches are there? None. I know guys who have left the game and done their level four coaching badges so are prime candidates to be county coaches. Do they even get past the first interview? No.

‘I’m talking over my whole career. What black county captains have there been? I was the last one, you know how long I lasted? Six games. People will say that’s not necessarily racist, but I’ll let you do the maths on that one.

‘Employing some Asian people to work within your system looks good, telling everyone you are now ploughing money into south-Asian cricket, you’re all about inclusion. It looks good from afar. But if you peel back the layers, who are the people making the big decisions? White privilege, it’s not the Asian guys or the black guys.’

Carberry, 39, who played six Tests and six one-day internationals for England and now works in finance, has had to put up with discrimination in cricket from when he first took up the game.

‘(The racism) was horrific,’ he says. ‘It was and still is prevalent because when you walk in there as a black man — and most of the time it was me alone — it starts with little racial comments and jokes you have to put up with.

‘I’ve had a county coach say to me, “Where are the brothers going tonight for a bit of rice, fried chicken and peas?” — I just looked at him and said, “Let me have a word with you on the balcony, please”. I said to him, “I don’t know how much time you’ve spent in the company of black people — by that comment, not very much. But let me tell you something: I’m worldlier than you are. I know what you think you know about black people, that we all eat fried chicken. I eat fish, steak, I even eat ostrich, You name it, I’ve tried it”.

‘In my time at Leicester, I pulled up a team-mate about his comments regarding an Islamic player in my team because half my family follow Islam, and I put this guy in his place. He was shocked. I said, “Don’t ever mention this around me or this team again”.’

Carberry’s experiences of prejudice have not been confined to the cricket pitch, though. ‘I’ve been pulled over by police so many times, I can’t count,’ he says. ‘In Kent, I was pulled over like nine times in a month. One time it was outside the cricket ground. And the only reason the guy let me go was because, when he looked at my licence, he was the one doing security at a game where I happened to score a century. He said, “Oh sugar, I know this guy, he’s the opening batter at Kent”.’

He adds: ‘I walked into a cricket changing room for the first time aged nine, and all I’ve done is battle against people who have a problem with the colour of my skin. And if I wasn’t as damn good as I was, I would never have played for as long as I did.

‘My parents sat me down from very young and made me realise (about racism). It’s sad as a nine-year-old having to hear, “The only way you’re going to make it in this world is if you are three times as good as everyone else around you”. That’s powerful. I used that to fuel my career for 20 years — and I use that to fuel my daily life now.’

I’ve had a county coach say to me, “Where are the brothers going tonight for a bit of rice, fried chicken and peas?”