James Anderson says England will discuss holding a joint anti-racism protest during next month’s Test series against the West Indies.
The Windies arrived in the UK on Tuesday, becoming the first international team to visit since the coronavirus pandemic began.
They do so at a time when protests against racial injustice following the death of George Floyd are ongoing around the world.
Visiting captain Jason Holder said his side would take a team decision over whether to make a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement when the three-match series gets underway on July 8, and England’s all-time leading wicket-taker Anderson suggested Joe Root’s men could join them.
"It's been a very thought-provoking few weeks for everyone," Anderson said. "It's made me do a lot of thinking.
“We will have conversations about what we can do as players to make a stand, definitely. I expect that to be a conversation we have."
The International Cricket Council does not usually allow gestures supporting ‘political, religious or racial activities’, but as with football’s global governing body, Fifa, said this week that it would take a ‘common sense approach’ to protests.
Anderson said he could not remember encountering explicit racism on the field during his career, having been watching from home when fellow bowler Jofra Archer was racially abused at the Bay Oval during last year’s tour of New Zealand.
However, the 37-year-old said the reaction to Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests from within the cricket community – for example, former teammate Michael Carberry claiming racism was ‘rife’ within the game – had cause him to reflect.
“It made me wonder if I’d turned a blind eye to things,” he added. “I’d always try to support my team-mates if they did suffer any sort of abuse, but I have been asking myself whether I’ve been active in supporting them on things like this.
“Clearly as players and as a game we need to be more active. I saw a stat that said there was only one state-educated black man playing first-class cricket in England by the end of last year and that’s just not OK. We need to make this a game for everyone. It can’t keep going the way it is.”
