"A lot of nasty things were said" - Chris Jordan on the racial abuse he received after England's T20 World Cup semi-final loss
England pacer Chris Jordan has opened up on the racial abuse he and his family suffered following his poor performance in the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. The right-arm pacer said he was disappointed with all the blame pinned on him for England's five-wicket loss.
Jordan, who bowled the 17th over in the semi-final against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi, leaked 23 runs.
Following the over, the Kiwis needed a manageable 34 off the final 18 deliveries and got home with an over to spare.
While Jordan accepted responsibility for the loss, the 34-year-old rued racial abuse dished out at him over social media.
He was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo:
"It wasn't necessarily the fact it was racist abuse, it was the volume of it. A lot of nasty things were said. I got told stuff about my family, so many different things. Whatever you can think of from a racial point of view, it was said to me, it was sent to me.
"It felt as though a lot of the blame was put solely on myself. Which is fine. When you bowl in those situations, more often than not, the game is on the line and it's you who determines which way the game swings."
The pacer started the 2021 edition of the T20 on a brilliant note, bowling two economical overs in England's win over the West Indies, followed by a player-of-the-match performance against Australia. He registered figures of 4-0-17-3 as England blew the Aussies away.
"I still created two chances" - Chris Jordan reflects on the game-changing over
Jordan harked back to that over and believes that fine margins cost England the game as they could have won if the chances had been seized. H eexplained:
"When I look back on it, Neesham came out on top. But I still created two chances in that over that could have swung the game back the other way. Jonny stepped on the rope, which ended up being a six, then another went up in the air where Livi misjudged it.
"But that's part of cricket. Although I felt he definitely won the first part of the over, I definitely won the second in terms of creating chances. Though certainly not the outcome. feel like it could end up in my favour a high percentage of the time."
England will start their T20 WOrld Cup 2022 campaign against Afghanisthan on Saturday, October 22.