ST LUCIA – West Indies great Michael Holding has praised the decision of England's footballers to continue taking a knee, saying they are doing more than their cricket counterparts to combat racism.
The former paceman last year called for meaningful change to tackle injustice, saying he had encountered abuse as a young player in England and Australia.
Holding, now a commentator, returned to the theme on Friday during the second day's play in the second Test between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston.
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"The footballers, (manager) Gareth Southgate and the England team, I applaud them for what they're doing," he said.
"They are getting a lot of stick for taking the knee (in Euro 2020 warm-up games), they're getting booed, but they are showing some backbone.
"They're saying 'we're doing it because we know what we're doing – not for a political movement, we're doing it for humanitarian reasons'."
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England and New Zealand shared a "moment of unity" before Thursday's opening day of the second Test, but the 67-year-old Holding was unimpressed.
"I'm not going to talk about political movements," he said. "I care about the three words – Black Lives Matter.
"What this England (cricket) team is doing, this 'moment of unity', is not supporting Black Lives Matter. Don't tell me that's supporting Black Lives Matter."
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Holding, who has written a book "Why We Kneel, How We Rise", believes things are changing, albeit not as quickly as he would like.
"Progress is definitely being made but I'd love to have seen a lot more (being done) in this country (Britain)," he said.
"I want this country to take a firm grip on the situation but people are accepting things are wrong and we can move forward.
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"But I'm very disappointed with people saying Black Lives Matter is Marxist. They wouldn't even know what Marxism is or what it stood for – but they tell you that because they are trying to pull down Black Lives Matter."
AFP