Cricket Described

When Usman Khawaja said at his press conference that he had been subject to racist stereotypes, the instant and entirely predictable reaction by many was to doubt him, to disbelieve him, to downplay or even dismiss his points. This in itself is part of the problem. There was a great deal of pent-up frustration in his comments – frustration borne of his own experience. Rather than seeking to downplay this or taking it is a personal attack, we ought to listen and we ought to take heed.

Khawaja rightly pointed out that when he injured his back playing golf before the first test, many pundits and commentators were instantly critical of him, and made assumptions and assertions about his work rate and his dedication to his sport. They implied that he was lazy. There was no basis for any of this criticism, and as he pointed out, this does not happen to white players. When Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood were ruled out with injury, no one reflexively assumed that they were somehow to blame for their predicament, and nor should they. But they did with Khawaja, as they always do. And they did it to Jofra Archer too. They don’t work hard enough. They have a poor attitude. Racist stereotypes persist, and they have a long and well documented history. They are held and propagated by a great many people who would genuinely not consider themselves racist. We all have unconscious biases to some extent because we are human. We would do well to listen and to try to understand when someone calls out a clear problem of this nature.

Paul Suttor has argued that the injury to Khawaja was significantly different to the injuries to other players, so the comparison doesn’t hold. He asserts that it was reasonable to criticise Khawaja because his injury was the result of playing golf the day before the game, and at 39 years old he shouldn’t have been preparing that way. What Suttor overlooks is that a number of other players were also playing golf with Khawaja that day. Khawaja has played golf the day before test matches for many years. This preparation would have been sanctioned by team management, and no one raised any concerns about it at the time. Are we really expected to believe that this was acceptable preparation for players a few years younger, but that Khawaja was irresponsible to do so because of that age difference? It seems much more likely that this implausible distinction has been cobbled together retrospectively in order to justify the criticism of Khawaja. It is not that Khawaja or anyone else should be exempt from criticism – no one is making that argument. The problem is that the criticism itself was disproportionate and unfair, and it was more than just criticism, it was a vitriolic pile-on that continued for many days.

In addition to the racial stereotyping, Khawaja has also been targeted because of his outspoken views on Palestine. As Adam Goodes can attest, white Australia is severely antagonised by outspoken people of colour. They are tolerated until they open their mouth and express an opinion, all the more so if that opinion challenges the status quo. Critics will claim that their objection is that sport and politics shouldn’t mix. But this is never applied equally or universally. Outspoken white athletes are never subjected to the same level of criticism and vitriol for speaking out on issues. 

If anyone is any doubt that Usman Khawaja has been subjected to racism, they need just go online and read the comments section on any mainstream media article about his press conference. The quantity and severity of the abuse is incredible, but not surprising. Whilst this is distinct from subtler racism that informs the stereotypes, they are not unrelated – they exist on the same continuum and they reinforce each other.

Jofra Archer was just about England’s best player across the first three tests of the series. His stop-start career has been marred by injury, and a prevailing sense that he has never been able to fulfil his potential. Despite a series of injuries, he has remained determined to succeed at test level, and two years ago he set about preparing to get himself ready for a return to test cricket, and this Ashes series in particular. As a fast bowler in his thirties, the easier and potentially more lucrative option would have been to focus on playing T20 franchise cricket around the world. But he was determined to prove himself in the most challenging and exalted form of the game.

As he showed when he concussed Steve Smith in 2019, Archer is capable of bowling very, very fast. His fastest deliveries are as fast as anyone in world cricket. Bowling at speeds in excess of 150kph is something that only a very small number of people have been able to do. This is beyond simply being very fast. These are speeds at which the best batters who have ever lived struggle to hit the ball. In his excellent book ‘The Art of Batting’, Jarrod Kimber describes  in detail how batters cannot properly see and react to the ball at these speeds. They need to rely on cues from the bowler before the ball is released to be able to be in a position to play the ball. 

The bowlers who have been able to reach these speeds are about as rare as the men who have run 100 metres in under ten seconds. So when those outside of this exclusive club offer criticisms of those within it, or suggest that they have somehow failed because they haven’t crossed that threshold with sufficient regularity, these complaints sound preposterously ignorant and absurd. If there was a surefire method to get bowlers to bowl the ball at 150kph, then it would be a lot more commonplace than it is.

Archer has been subject to these criticisms, because he has not been able to bowl consistently at top speed. Critics have immediately accused him of not working hard enough – of being lazy. Archer is the only black player in the England Team. 

His bowling speeds did vary significantly across his bowling spells across the test matches. But as Sam Perry has showed, they did not vary by any greater degree than any of the other English bowlers. It is just that his top speed is so high, that a drop off in speed is more apparent. As Perry explains “Every England quick in this sample drops speed across spells; Archer’s decline is simply more visible because he starts from 145kph instead of 138.” Yet none of the other bowlers were assumed to be lazy. They weren’t even criticised for their variable speeds. Once again, the commentariat made instant assumptions about his character that just happen to align with a racist stereotype.

Archer bowled very well across the first three tests, and made some handy contributions with the bat, until injury ended his tour. He carried large bowling loads, as he did in the series against India, and eventually a side strain brought him unstuck. Again he was criticised. His attitude, his preparation, and his work rate were all called into question, and again it was all baseless.

In the closing stages of the Brisbane test, Archer bowled a spell at top speed to Steve Smith, having not achieved these speeds earlier in the match. Once again he was criticised for putting in effort after the game was lost. It later became apparent that it was a direction from his captain to try to set a bit of an aggressive tone ahead of the next test. But for those who see what they want to see, this was more evidence of a poor attitude. In addition to this, Archer was also criticised during the series for things such as carrying a pillow when walking around the boundary during a break in play, and for wearing a gold chain. Again, all cited as evidence of his poor attitude. 

Three years ago, cricket writer Bharat Sundaresan wrote an article about his experiences of racism at cricket venues. In it he described repeated instances where he was aggressively confronted by security staff, when other white journalists were not. Khawaja himself has detailed similar instances when travelling as a member of the Australian team. The article was shocking to those of us who don’t have to endure these things. We don’t see it, so it’s easy to just assume that it doesn’t exist. But it does, and we need to believe Bharat, Usman, and others when they call it out.

This is a difficult topic. It’s uncomfortable, it’s unpleasant, it’s awkward, and it’s easier to pretend that we all live in a racism-free utopia. But that is not the case, and Khawaja has done us a favour by confronting this head on. Many will continue to deny it, and Khawaja will continue to be subject to racist abuse online. But this is also an opportunity to stop and reflect, and to do better. Khawaja wasn’t saying these things for fun. They were genuine, heartfelt comments from a person who has lived this for a long time. He knows this will bring more abuse and criticism and that it will be difficult for him and his family. But he did it anyway. We owe it to him to listen.