|| Desk Report ||

Former West Indies World Cup-winning captain Darren Sammy thinks that it has been possible for West Indies to beat the hosts England this time around after being highly motivated by ‘Black Live Matters’ gestures.

While the entire world was vocal on racism after the murder of George Floyd, a black American by white police in Minnesota, Sammy was one of the first cricketers to begin the conversation on racism in cricket recently.

He suggested to his previous SunRisers Hyderabad of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise team’s teammates to seek an unconditional pardon from him who was frequently called by them as Kallu, Kala during his IPL stint.

“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,” said Darren Sammy.

“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,” Sammy said while Speaking on a Sky Sports podcast.

“The whole scenario of this Test match, the significance of cricket being back, what it meant to see a black team on TV after this time where sport has not been played, that provided extra motivation for the West Indies,” he added.

Before the beginning of the 1st Test in Southampton, Michael Holding delivered a strong speech on how systemic racism works.