Quinton de Kock made himself unavailable for the match against West Indies today in the T20 World Cup. Reportedly it was due to personal reasons. Later it was learnt that he refused to take the knee which was the Cricket South Africa directive.
Cricket South Africa released a directive saying all players must take the knee and hours after the same the news of Quinton de Kock broke. He made himself unavailable for the selection but an official statement was yet to come. By then, Dinesh Karthik wrote on Twitter about it, “Quinton de Kock not playing because of his stand on BLM movement. #BlackLivesMatter #SAvsWI #worldT20”.
Cricket South Africa then came up with an official statement. “Cricket South Africa (CSA) has noted the personal decision by South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock not to “take the knee” ahead of Tuesday’s game against the West Indies,” the statement read.
It added, “All players had been required, in line with a directive of the CSA Board on Monday evening, to “take the knee” in a united and consistent stance against racism. This is also the global gesture against racism that has been adopted by sportspeople across sporting codes because they recognise the power of sport to bring people together.”
It continued, “After considering all relevant issues, including the freedom of choice of players, the Board had made it clear it was imperative for the team to be seen taking a stand against racism, especially given SA’s history. The Board’s view was that while diversity can and should find expression in many facets of daily lives, this did not apply when it came to taking a stand against racism.”
The board will now wait for a detail report from team management before taking any further call. “The Board will await a further report from team management before deciding on the next steps. All players are expected to follow this directive for the remaining games of the World Cup.”
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