T20 World Cup 2021: England's attempt to condemn various prejudices with a T-Shirt was rejected by the ICC
The England squad for T20 World Cup will reportedly continue to take a knee prior to their fixture against Bangladesh.
The decision comes on the back of the saga that has arisen in the South African camp over the gesture. Quinton de Kock chose to make himself unavailable for the Proteas' fixture against the West Indies after Cricket South Africa issued a directive where all players were required to take a knee.
England made the gesture during their opening encounter against the West Indies. All-rounder Chris Jordan had shed light on the team's willingness to take a knee prior to the contest.
All signs indicate that England want to continue to express their solidarity in the fight against racism, but the team reportedly wanted to do more.
The England team wore t-shirts designed to show their collective stance against any form of discrimination in cricket during a 'Moment of Unity' before play this morning.
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Ahead of the tournament, the ICC offered all of the participating nations a chance to make a stand against racism. The England team wished to address and condemn racism and other types of prejudices with a pre-match "Moment Of Unity" T-shirt that would have been worn during the national anthems.
However, the ICC rejected the proposal since the proposed attire went against the kit regulations. The rulebook states ''approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes."
With their planned proposal being rejected, England will be restored to taking a knee like the majority of the other teams.
Check out the list of all T20 World Cup 2021 captains here.
Our position is we stand against any form of discrimination: England vice-captain Buttler
England vice-captain Jos Buttler reiterated the team's stance of being against any and all forms of discrimination. He said:
"Our position is we stand against any form of discrimination, which we’re very passionate about. What we’d like to do is a moment of unity, which we did at times during our summer. West Indies like to take a knee, so we wanted to reciprocate that in the first game."
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The Three Lions are on the lookout to make it two wins out of two following their dominant win over the defending champions. They will face Bangladesh later today (October 27) in their only afternoon fixture in Abu Dhabi.