England's T20 captain Eoin Morgan says the Yorkshire racism scandal is as "serious and relevant" to the squad as any of their playing achievements.
An independent report into Azeem Rafiq's allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire upheld that the spinner had been a victim of "racial harassment and bullying".
The county has been punished, with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) suspending Yorkshire from hosting international and major matches, while sponsors such as Emerald and Nike have withdrawn from agreements.
Roger Hutton resigned as Yorkshire chairman, with his replacement – Lord Patel – offering Rafiq an unreserved apology on Monday.
Gary Ballance has also been indefinitely suspended from international selection after the batsman – who has not played for England since 2017 – admitted he was responsible for some of the offensive and inappropriate language Rafiq was subjected to when they were Yorkshire team-mates.
Morgan, whose side are preparing for a T20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, revealed England's players have discussed the matter, and are committed to using their platform to end discrimination within the sport.
"We definitely don't shelter anything that's going on, particularly things as serious and as relevant to our squad as anything that we've ever done, really," Morgan told reporters.
"We talk about discrimination quite a lot because in our group there is a lot of diversity.
"After winning the 2019 World Cup and becoming a more formidable side with a bigger platform, that has allowed us to feel comfortable enough to continue to tell our different stories."
Morgan also outlined how important it is for his players to act as role models for future generations.
"We feel comfortable within our own skin to play great cricket on the field but also to be really strong role models," he added.
"With what's going on in Yorkshire, we've continued to chat about things and how it might affect younger generations.
"Being at the forefront of change both on and off the field for us is not always easy. Particularly at the beginning.
"We're at one of those stages right now for Yorkshire, and within the group we talk about seeing the bigger picture down the line and the huge benefits we will see coming into that county.
"We all want to be able to share our dream that we've dreamt about for so long as kids and have been so looking to live that dream. We want young kids to be able to picture that but also picture a pathway to be able to achieve it.
"So the things we do during this World Cup and beyond are very important."
LaLiga accused of 'inadequate' handling of 'disgraceful' racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior
LaLiga's handling of the "absolutely disgraceful" instances of racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior has been "completely inadequate".
That was the message from Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari after Vinicius was subjected to more abuse by sections of the crowd at Valencia's win over Real Madrid last Sunday.
Valencia's punishments for the incident were reduced on appeal, with the partial closure of Mestalla Stadium cut from five matches to three and their financial penalty also sliced.
Bhandari, chair of the organisation aiming to eradicate racism from football, says the Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga president Javier Tebas have failed to support Vinicius.
"I think the treatment we've seen of Vinicius has been absolutely disgraceful," Bhandari told Stats Perform at the Football Business Awards.
"It's 10 or 11 games, it's not just this last weekend, it's been happening over the course of the last two seasons.
"The response of the Spanish authorities has been completely inadequate and it's actually been worse than inadequate because it's made the matter worse.
"The way Javier Tebas, who runs LaLiga, responded trying to blame Vinicius and treating him as if he's a problem when actually he's the victim… it's really sort of going back 30 or 40 years."
Tebas was a vocal critic after Vinicius labelled LaLiga racist, the league's president criticising the 22-year-old for "not informing himself properly" before subsequently apologising for those comments.
The incident – and Tebas' reaction to it – sparked widespread condemnation of LaLiga and Spanish football's relationship with race, with Bhandari calling for further action on the issues.
He added: "They need to get on with taking more concrete steps to kick discrimination out of Spanish football, it's not acceptable to have whole stands of fans doing monkey chants.
"Making monkey noises and shouting monkey to Vinicius, that's totally unacceptable and there shouldn't be any deflection and making excuses for that kind of behaviour, which is what we have seen.
"They need to get on it and if that means closing the stand, that's a good step. We welcome that and fines are a move in the right direction.
"But if it doesn't stop that should move to points deductions and further sanctions."
Knight stars as Barbados complete CWI Super 50, T20 Blaze double
Kycia Knight starred with an unbeaten half-century as Barbados defeated the Leeward Islands by eight wickets to claim the CWI Women’s T20 Blaze title, adding to their Super 50 crown won last week.
The Leewards batted first at Warner Park on Saturday, making 121-5 off their 20 overs thanks to a 50-ball 33* from Divya Saxena.
Theanny Herbert-Mayers was the best bowler on the day for the Bajans with figures of 2-12 from her four overs.
The Barbados chase was then anchored be an 80-run opening stand between Knight and Aaliyah Alleyne who made 32.
In the end, Barbados claimed victory in 17.3 overs, reaching 122-2. Knight faced 51 balls for her 66*, hitting nine boundaries.
At St. Paul’s Sports Complex, Guyana won an extraordinary match against Trinidad & Tobago by one run to secure second place.
Guyana took first strike and were bowled out for a horrendous 39 in 19.3 overs with only skipper Shemaine Campbelle reaching double figures with 13 against an excellent four-over spell from Anisa Mohammed which saw her claim four wickets while conceding just five runs.
Steffie Soogrim and Shalini Samaroo also bowled eight overs between them, taking 2-7 and 2-10, respectively.
Then, amazingly, Guyana was able to defend the paltry total, bowling out T&T for 38 in 18.4 overs.
Mandy Mangru led the way with the ball with 4-11 from 3.4 overs while Ashmini Munisar took 2-8 from three overs.
At Conaree Sports Club, the Windward Islands beat Jamaica by six wickets.
Jamaica made 102-6 off their 20 overs batting first. Keneshia Ferron led the way with 32 off 41 balls while captain Stafanie Taylor made 22.
Afy Fletcher took 2-11 off her four overs for the Windwards.
The Windwards then needed only 17 overs to overhaul Jamaica’s total, reaching 103-4.
Zaida James led the way with 28 while Fletcher got 23.
The final points table saw Barbados and Guyana level on 16 points, followed by the Windwards (12), Jamaica (8), Trinidad & Tobago (8) and the Leewards (0).
Australia captain Meg Lanning ruled out of women’s Ashes
Australian women’s captain Meg Lanning has been ruled out of the summer’s Ashes tour due to medical reasons.
A statement from Cricket Australia said Lanning, 31, who returned to cricket in January after a six-month mental health break, has been “withdrawn from the squad due to a medical issue which requires management from home”.
Cricket Australia’s women’s cricket performance boss Shawn Flegler said: “It’s an unfortunate setback for Meg and she’s obviously disappointed to have been ruled out of the Ashes; it’s a significant series for the team and she’ll be missed, but she understands the need to put her health first.
“Meg will remain at home where she will continue to work with medical staff with the aim to return to playing as soon as possible.
“We ask that Meg’s privacy is respected at this time.”
Wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy will captain the team throughout the Ashes clashes against England with all-rounder Tahlia McGrath as vice-captain.
Lanning, who captained Australia to win the Twenty20 World Cup in March, will not be replaced in the squad with Australia A players touring England at the same and available if needed.
The multi-format Ashes series starts with a one-off Test in Nottingham from June 22 with three T20s and three ODIS.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
