#BLM: AMLA LAUDS NGIDI’S STANCE

Batting maestro has his own stories of racial abuse in cricket

FORMER Proteas Test captain

Hashim Amla has unequivocally shown his support to the Black Lives Matter movement and current South Africa fast bowler Lungi Ngidi.

Amla shared an emotive message on social media yesterday claiming it was “simply delusional” for one race to claim superiority over the other.

The 37-year-old, a staunch Muslim, went further by saying that according to him, “justice for all is the only true justice”.

“The Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign has relevance for everyone. Why?

“In the Islamic tradition it is understood that the first man, Adam (peace be upon him), was of dark skin henceforth all of humanity have deep roots to this proud heritage and should have zero qualms in being referred to as black.

“This makes it even clearer for the person who believes in their black lineage that the imagined superiority of whites over blacks or blacks over whites, or one nationality over another, is simply delusional. Yes that’s right – nothing but delusional.

“I speak for myself and those who share this belief that the end product of being racist is only self destruction and social change.

“There are oppressed people here in this country and the world over, of all colours and walks of life, cricket included. However the darker skinned people have had the worst of it. Some may convince themselves otherwise but you have to ask yourself – are those who know the same as those who don’t know?

“Justice for all is the only true justice that will bring peace and anything else is sadly delusional. So why is Black Lives Matter relevant for us? ... because we are all black (to me anyway). I stand with all those who are oppressed. And I stand with @lungingidi (again).”

Amla was not part of the original list of 31 black former South African players and five coaches that called on Cricket South Africa earlier this week to confront the issue of racial divisions in the sport in the country.

He was simply “off-line” for the day and did not respond to messages on his phone, but now wanted to set the record straight. Equally, he expressed that in line with his contemporaries such as Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, JP Duminy and Herschelle Gibbs among others he also had “crazy stories” in regards to racism while playing cricket.

Amla was infamously called a “terrorist” by Dean Jones, the former Australian batsman turned TV commentator, on live television during a Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Colombo in 2006. Jones was subsequently sacked by his employers Ten Sports.

An Australian spectator was also banned for three years after he wrote racist graffiti branding Amla a “terrorist” once again during the second Test in Hobart on the 2016 tour.

The abuse Amla suffered was not only related to his appearance – he wears a distinctive long beard – but his credentials were also overtly scrutinised during the early years of his international career.

Even though Amla was a schoolboy prodigy that captained SA Under-19 and a prolific run-scorer for the Dolphins in domestic cricket prior to his Proteas Test debut in

MINENHLE MKHIZE