T20 WC: England join West Indies taking knee before opening match
Oct 23, 2021
Dubai [UAE], October 23 : Ahead of the second match in Super 12 stage in the ongoing T20 World Cup, West Indies and England on Saturday took a knee to show support towards the fight against racism.
On the eve of the match, England skipper Eoin Morgan had said the team would be joining West Indies in taking a knee.
"Tomorrow we'll join the West Indies in taking a knee to show our support in the fight against racism. The second part of it is we've always felt that we need something within our squad and our side that we feel a part of making a change, both locally and nationally and potentially globally," Morgan had said on Friday during the pre-match press conference as per ICC.
"Our moment of unity that we have had at home for quite a period of time has been our piece of, I suppose, cultural development, education, raising awareness within that space, as well, and it's worked for us, and it's progressing nicely and guys are engaged and want to do more.
"Unfortunately during this tournament, we're not able to do that. If we could do that every game, we would. But yeah, we're more than happy to take a knee tomorrow," he added.
Meanwhile, England won the toss and opted to bowl first against West Indies. The Morgan-led side got off to a good start as they dimissed four Windies batsmen within six overs.
Earlier in the day, Australia kickstarted the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup 2021 with a nervy five-wicket victory over South Africa in a low-scoring contest in Abu Dhabi. Even South Africa and Australia had taken a knee before the start of their match on Saturday.
Coming back to the game, having restricted the Proteas to 118 for nine, Australia slipped to 38 for three in reply before Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell's partnership of 42 set the platform for Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade to see Justin Langer's side home with two balls to spare.
