England and New Zealand cricketers share 'Moment of Unity' in fight against discrimination
England Men's and Women's teams to wear anti-discrimination T-shirts in their warm-ups throughout this summer; Joe Root: "We have spent a lot of time talking about this sort of thing, but this year is all about action."
Wednesday 2 June 2021 16:59, UK
The England and New Zealand players took part in a 'Moment of Unity' before the start of the first Test at Lord's to show their collective determination to fight any form of discrimination in cricket.
The players and match officials stood in silence on the outfield, facing the pavilion, with the England side in T-shirts which incorporated anti-discrimination messages on their front and back.
The wearing of the T-shirts has been driven by the England men's squad and both the men and women will wear them in warm-ups throughout the summer.
The front of the T-shirts carries the message: 'Cricket is a game for everyone'.
There are seven different designs of the shirts, each one featuring a different message on the back.
Trending
- Arsenal without Gabriel or Calafiori against Man Utd LIVE!
- Isak named in Newcastle team to face Liverpool LIVE!
- Grealish, Doku, De Bruyne return for Man City vs Forest LIVE!
- Chelsea make seven changes as Jackson benched at Southampton LIVE!
- Everton vs Wolves LIVE!
- Mings and Martinez start for Aston Villa vs Brentford LIVE!
- Bernardo starts for Celtic vs Aberdeen - Scottish Premiership team news LIVE!
- Transfer Centre LIVE! Man Utd 'making progress' in Amad contract extension
- PL Predictions: Another Man City defeat, Man Utd to be thrashed
- Amorim urges Man Utd caution: The storm will come, we will be found out
The words on the back begin 'We stand together against', before one of 'racism', 'religious intolerance', 'sexism', 'transphoboia', 'homophobia', 'ableism' or 'ageism'.
England Test captain Joe Root said before the match: "We will be taking a moment of unity at the start of the game.
"New Zealand will also be doing that. They are happy to work alongside us and support us in that.
"We know the start of last summer unearthed some ugly truths in society and in our sport. We have spent a lot of time talking about how we can better our game and how we can educate ourselves more.
"Throughout this summer, we will be looking at working with hopefully three projects where we can take the game to more diverse areas around the country where we can continue to look to grow the game and offer our help and support in doing that.
"We have spent a lot of time talking about this sort of thing, but this year is all about action. It's about actually doing something about it.
Live Test Cricket
"Hopefully this year we can really start to make a difference and keep that conversation current. We can make our game more diverse and make sure it is the game for everyone."
