Tim Paine’s Black Lives Matters history lesson

Michael Holding’s celebrated off-the-cuff Black Lives matter exposition had a profound impact on Australian captain Tim Paine.

West Indies legend Michael Holding breaks down discussing racism during the first Test in Southampton Picture: Sky News

Michael Holding’s celebrated off-the-cuff Black Lives matter exposition before the first Test in England had a profound impact on Australian captain Tim Paine who says it will be one of the first topics the side discusses when players regroup.

Cricketers as a rule are apolitical if not apathetic, but the scenes at the beginning of the match against the West Indies at Southampton last week have resonated across the game.

Players took a knee and the visitors raised a black gloved fist at the start of the Test in a gesture reminiscent of the black power movement of the 1960s.

The West Indies legend Holding and former England player Ebony Rainford-Brent had recorded a piece on the Black Lives Matter movement for Sky which aired while the match waited for the weather to clear.

It was, however, an answer to a question from Ian Ward in an interview later where Holding really cut through.

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Holding said he had not suffered too much direct racism as a child or player, but spoke of the “dehumanisation of the black race” saying it may have originated a long time ago but black people had not got over it nor had society.

He spoke of how Jesus is portrayed as a blue-eyed white man, how everybody knows of Thomas Edison’s role in the development of the light bulb but almost nobody knows of Lewis Howard Latimer, the son of slaves, who invented the carbon filament which kept the globe burning. He touched on the incident with Amy Cooper threatening the black Christian Cooper with a call to the police in a New York park recently.

Erudite throughout but emotional at the end, Holding said nobody needs to be told white lives matter because it was more than apparent. A truth universally held – if you like.

The following day he revealed his mother had been shunned by her family for marrying his father because his skin was too dark. Holding said that blacks and whites had been “brainwashed” by racist sentiments.

Cricket, a white man’s game which finds itself played primarily in countries with coloured populations, is a sport with a unique and varied set of challenges when it comes to racism. In Australia the lack of Aboriginal representation and participation remains an enormous hurdle, particularly in the men’s competitions.

Holding is one of the most admired men in the game and Paine said his words hit him in a way others had not.

“I thought that was an amazing piece,” Paine told Gerard Whateley on SEN. “Particularly, the second piece where he went straight off the cuff and from the heart, I thought that had a real impact on probably everyone.

“I think everyone has been aware of the Black Lives Matter campaign but I think he took it to a new level.”

Paine believes Holding’s measured, educative approach would cut through where others had failed.

“He reached some people who aren’t aware why or where some people were coming from, I thought it was a real eye opener and he nailed it for the rest of us,” he said.

Paine, like white ball captain Aaron Finch, believes the Australian players will be discussing the BLM movement when they regroup.

“We don’t know when that will be but that will be something we touch on as an Australian Test team pretty early on when we get back together,” he said.

“It was really well done, the reason it resonated was, with Mike in particular, it came from the heart, it was amazing to watch such a legend of the game speak so openly and so honestly.

“That authentic style has a real reach to people and that certainly had a huge impact.”

Former allrounder Darren Sammy believes the BLM matter was an inspiration for West Indies who won the first Test.

“When you have a movement for black lives, and you have a black team come to England — with everything that’s going on — that creates extra motivation,” he said on Sky Sports.

“You heard Jason Holder say that listening to Mikey (Holding), he felt it in his veins. And the decision to come over to England and play – there is something special about playing in England that sees West Indians want to rise, and get extra motivated,”