Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent shares ‘utterly disgusting’ letter

Former England cricketer and television presenter Ebony Rainford-Brent has shared an image of a “disgusting” letter to social media.

The cricket community is rallying behind former England batter Ebony Rainford-Brent after she exposed a “disgusting” hate letter that told the broadcaster to “leave our country”.

Rainford-Brent, the first black woman to represent England, has served as a pundit for Sky Sports and the BBC since her retirement in 2012. She became an outspoken advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, featuring in Sky Sports’ award-winning feature on the movement alongside West Indies great Michael Holding.

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On Thursday morning (AEDT), the 37-year-old posted an image to Twitter of a handwritten note from an anonymous source.

It reads: “White cricket culture is white culture you stupid racist b****!

“Who invited you to my country? Go b**** go! White culture is wiping your a**e with white toilet paper! We found you naked in Africa Ebony! Naked! Illiterate primitive! Yes primitive Ebony!

“Leave our country b****! Leave now! Go! Go today!”

Rainford-Brent, who was born in London, captioned the post: “Had some letters in my time but this one up there!”

The "disgusting" hate mail Ebony Rainford-Brent received.

The cricket presenter received a flood of support on social media. England opening batter Tammy Beaumont tweeted: “This is utterly disgusting Ebz. I’m sorry you had to receive something so foul!”

Cricket reporter Elizabeth Ammon posted: “Jesus bloody Christ. So sorry you have to deal with this Ebony.”

The Sun’s John Etheridge commented: “There are some utterly repellent people out there.”

Former Australian paceman Jason Gillespie tweeted: “This is just disgusting.”

The BBC’s Amy Lofthouse wrote: “You’re an icon and I’m so sorry you have to go through this.”

Rainford-Brent opened up about her experiences with racism in the emotional Sky Sports feature, which aired before the opening day’s play of a Test match between England and the West Indies last year.

“I noticed as soon as I walked into the world of cricket, comments started,” she explained.

“I had comments about where I grew up. The fact that I had a long name, maybe I didn’t know who my dad was, about my hair, about body parts, especially the derrière shall we say, about the food I ate and that it stank. It was just constant. Did I wash my skin? Everyone in your area gets stabbed. All these sort of things were drip fed constantly.

Sky Sports Cricket commentator Ebony Rainford-Brent. Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images

“I’ve been in team environments, dealing constantly with people referring to ‘Your lot’. I’m not surprised that people coming into the environment don’t want to deal with that. I questioned myself sometimes why I stayed so long. I love the game, I think it has so much more to offer, but it can be really difficult dealing with that, day in, day out.”

Rainford-Brent represented England in 29 matches after making her international debut in 2001, scoring 430 runs and claiming 13 wickets for her country.

Following her retirement, she served as director of the Surrey women’s team and set up a charity that increased cricketing opportunities for the African-Caribbean community.