Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent has shared a picture of a racist hate letter she has received, where she was told to “leave our country”.
Rainford-Brent who became the first black woman to play for England in 2001, posted the sickening correspondence on Twitter
She captioned her tweet: “Interesting… Born in South London but apparently I was found naked in Africa as a primitive. Had some letters in my time but this one up there!”
The handwritten letter read: “White cricket culture is white culture you racist B***h! Who invited you to my country? Go B***h go!! White culture is wiping your a*** with white toilet paper!!!
“We found you NAKED in Africa Ebony! NAKED, illiterate, primitive! Yes primitive Ebony!!
“Leave our country B***h! Leave now! Go! Go Today!”
Rainford-Brent played 29 times for England between 2001 and 2010 and soon moved into broadcasting, featuring regularly for Sky Sports and Test Match Special.
She joined forces with her Sky Sports colleague Michael Holding in the summer of 2020 to feature in a powerful video discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, a campaign that saw the pair awarded the Freedom of the City of London.
In the short film, the 37-year-old spoke about how regular comments about her ethnicity made her question her future in the game.
Along with her broadcasting career and a role as director of Surrey women’s team, she set up the ACE Programme – a charity aimed at increasing cricketing opportunities for members of the African-Caribbean community.
