'It’s just not OK': Jimmy Anderson calls on cricket to raise BAME representation
For the first time since the coronavirus outbreak put a stop to professional team sports, Jimmy Anderson has been bowling at a human this week. “That’s a nice step in the right direction,” he says. “Just bowling at stumps can get a bit boring but now it feels like we are gearing up towards playing some cricket.”
There are fewer than four weeks before cricket will start with the first of three Tests against West Indies. And there was further good news on Thursday when it was announced that Pakistan will also tour England for three Tests and three Twenty20s in August and September.
The first set of tourists arrived on Tuesday and will quarantine in the onsite hotel at Old Trafford, Anderson’s home ground, where they will also prepare for the series and play its last two games.
“We’re very grateful West Indies are coming here,” Anderson says. “With what’s going on in the world I can imagine it was a scary decision for a lot of them – for all of them – to make the journey over.”
Though this will be an abbreviated summer, and thanks to Covid-19 the future remains uncertain, the series will bring to an end an unusually idle period of Anderson’s career. Injuries have restricted him to three Tests in the past 12 months. Buoyed by a five-wicket haul in his last outing, at Cape Town in January, that “showed I was able to keep going”, he has been given the chance to rest and refresh.
“It’s been nice to have a break. It’s not just the break the body gets, it’s the break the mind gets as well,” says Anderson, who will turn 38 two days after the series concludes. “Just not thinking about cricket for a few months will have done everyone a lot of good, because it can take over your life when it’s just tour after tour, series after series. So hopefully we can come back fresh. I just want to make sure I don’t get any injuries as has happened the previous times I’ve come back to playing.”
The break has also given him time for reflection, with the Black Lives Matter protests provoked by the death of George Floyd at the forefront of his mind. A conversation about how the England team can demonstrate their belief in racial equality is expected once they get back together and Anderson has been considering his individual responsibility.
“It’s been a very thought-provoking few weeks for everyone and it’s made me do a lot of thinking,” he says. “As players and as a game we need to be more active. It’s made me think: ‘Have I experienced racism on a cricket field?’ and I couldn’t remember any instances.
I wasn’t there in New Zealand [last year] when Jofra was racially abused .
“It made me think if I have turned a blind eye to things. I’d try to support my teammates if they did suffer any sort of abuse but have I been active in supporting them at times like that? Is there more I can do as a player to help the situation?
“The game in general as well – I saw a stat that there’s only one black player in county cricket who’s come through the state system and that’s just not OK. We need to actively make this a game for everyone. It can’t keep going the way it is. It’s just not OK.”
The Test series will be played behind closed doors but there will be more than just empty stands to make it seem a little unreal. Anderson will play with a headband to reduce the perspiration that runs down his face and thus the temptation to touch it. He is also having to become used to polishing the ball in a world fearful of coronavirus.
“For me it’s a natural habit to put saliva on the ball, so it’s been interesting trying to stop myself doing that,” he says. “As far as I’m aware we can use sweat and that’ll be enough to make it do something through the air. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal for the players.
“Has it felt unnatural? It’s all felt unnatural, just the whole process of training is unusual. It’s completely different to what we’re used to, with social distancing, warming up on our own
“There’s a lot of things we’re getting used to but by the first Test we should know what we should and shouldn’t be doing.”
Pakistan’s announcement they would tour England was widely anticipated but the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed they would send 28 players and 14 support personnel.
The left-arm paceman Mohammad Amir and middle-order batsman Haris Sohail will not be among that number however, withdrawing for personal reasons. “Amir has withdrawn so that he can be at the birth of his second child in August, while Haris will miss the tour because of family reasons,” a PCB statement said.