Bouncer Rules Introduced To Limit The Success Of A Black Team, Says Daren Sammy

Continuing to raise his voice against racism in cricket, former West Indies skipper Daren Sammy has said that the bouncer rule was introduced in order to check the rise of a black team. The two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain made the claim while he was expressing his emotions over the killing of African-American man George Floyd in the US at the hands of a police officer.

In a video gone viral on the internet, a white police officer was seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes and 15 seconds, even after Floyd lost consciousness. Daren Sammy said that the unfortunate incident affected him in many ways and also forced him to think how racism was also prevalent in cricket.

With protests taking place in US as well as Europe over the death of Floyd, the allrounder has used the opportunity to point out racism in cricket. Speaking about Floyd’s death, the West Indies legend said he views it as people in power suppressing the ones who are less fortunate.

“The Kneeling on this guy’s neck brought so many scenarios to me. The symbol itself, I saw it as the people in power suffocating those who are less fortunate,” Daren Sammy told Inside Out.

He then went on to speak about racism in cricket. Daren Sammy opined that the movie Fire in Babylon – a British documentary film about the mighty West Indies team of the 1970s and 1980s – shows how attempts were made to suppress a rising black team.

He opined that former Australian fast bowling duo of Jeffrey Robert Thomson and Dennis Lillee was known for hurting batsmen with their bowling but when the West Indies bowlers were bowling bouncers, rules were introduced in the game. He said that the rules were introduced in order to check the rise of the black players.

“Looking at the Fire in Babylon, looking at when Thomson and Lillee and all these guys were bowling quick and hurting people. Then I watch a black team becoming so dominant and then you see the bouncer rule start to come in and all these things start to come in and I take it, as I understand it, as this is just trying to limit the success of a black team could have. I might be wrong but that’s how I see it. And the system should not allow that,” opined Daren Sammy.

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