It took the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket two years of exhaustive research to conclude there is an elitist and exclusionary culture at the heart of the game in England. Had Cindy Butts and her fellow commission members been at Lord’s on Sunday, they could have taken five minutes to come to much the same view.
The title of their report published last month, Holding up a Mirror to Cricket, neatly sums up what members of the Marylebone Cricket Club – the self-appointed guardian of the rules and spirit of the game – unwittingly did when they abused the Australian team from inside the Long Room.
Whatever moral arguments there are about the stumping of England’s Jonny Bairstow, there is no ambiguity about the conduct of those MCC members who accosted the Australians as they headed to lunch. Nor is there any mystery – at least none to those who’ve read the commission report – about where such self-entitlement comes from.
“This culture is, in part, enforced through the dominance of private school networks within cricket’s talent pathway, together with sexist, racist and other discriminatory practices and policies that lead to discriminatory outcomes across the game,” the report found.
“We heard, for example, extensive, often shocking, evidence of interpersonal racism and sexism, which gave rise to a concern about prevailing social norms within English and Welsh cricket. It is our assessment that the extent, frequency and seriousness of some of the behaviours described to us reveal a culture in which overt discrimination often goes without serious challenge.
“These behaviours include, but are not limited to: racist, misogynistic, homophobic and ableist comments and actions, and a ‘laddish’ drinking culture that can sometimes make women vulnerable and at risk of unwanted or unwelcome behaviour, as well as alienating others due to religious and/or cultural beliefs.”
If that sounds like a Saturday night at your local suburban cricket club, you’ll know it is dangerous for people living in glass houses to bowl bouncers. But, it says something for where Australian cricket is heading that when Usman Khawaja was confronted with this culture, he offered serious challenge.
Footage from the Long Room shows that whatever was said in heat of those spiteful short moments stopped Khawaja in his tracks. Where most Australian players shrugged or laughed off the abuse as they continued on to the dressing room, Khawaja confronted his hecklers with the same calmness he brings to a seaming pitch.
He later explained to Nine’s broadcasters that he was more disappointed than angry. “Lord’s is one of my favourite places to come,” he said. “There is so much respect shown at Lord’s, particularly in the member’s pavilion and the Long Room, but there wasn’t today.
“Some of the stuff that was coming out of the members’ mouths was pretty disappointing. I wasn’t just going to stand by and cop it. I just talked to a few of them.
“A few of them were throwing out some pretty big allegations and I just called them up on it. They kept going and kept going.”
This is the third time that Khawaja, the Muslim son of Pakistani immigrants and, according to former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, “probably the nicest man that’s ever walked on the planet”, has copped the worst of England.
During the first Test at Edgbaston, when he was dismissed after a match-winning innings of 141, the foul-mouthed send-off he received from Ollie Robinson was jarringly out of place. Robinson was unapologetic for his actions, saying those who couldn’t handle an earful in an Ashes series, couldn’t handle much.
After the match, Khawaja’s faith became fodder in a broader culture war, when nationalist politician Nigel Farage questioned why the Australians didn’t douse themselves in alcohol in victory. “Once again the Australian cricket team do not celebrate in champagne style because one of the team members is a Muslim,” Farage tweeted. “Are we all to suspend normal life because of the minority?”
On Sunday, it was left to Khawaja, the first Pakistani-born cricketer to play for Australia, to remind members of the world’s most famous and influential cricket club how grown men should behave. The MCC suspended three members and unreservedly apologised to the Australian team.
There is a sad irony in all this.
It was the testimony of another Pakistani immigrant, former English off-spinner Azeem Rafiq, which led to the establishment of the ICEC. In evidence to a parliamentary committee, Rafiq laid bare the racism he endured while playing for Yorkshire and the club’s refusal to take any action when he raised his concerns.
Rafiq recounted how, when he arrived at the club in 2008, he was called a Paki, an elephant washer, and Raffa the Kaffir. “I lost my career to racism,” he said.
Khawaja’s extraordinary success since being recalled to the Test team, although mostly the product of his hard work and talent, is also reflective of cultural change within the Australian dressing room.
The ICEC recommended an “urgent and radical overhaul of the policies, practices and structures that currently exist in cricket.”
After Sunday’s shameful scenes, it should start with the MCC.
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