Andrew Strauss: Multi-cultural outlook important in today’s cricket

Former England captain Andrew Strauss has urged cricketers to avoid dressing room banter bordering on racial harassment and bullying in order to avert controversies like the one involving Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq. He had told U.K.’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport in November 2021 that racist comments and actions by fellow cricketers had left him “close to taking his own life.” Strauss, the former England and Wales Cricket Board director of cricket, said during his Marylebone Cricket Club Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on Wednesday that with players of different nationalities and races now sharing dressing rooms more than ever, cricketers will have to be more guarded in what they say and do. RELATED - IPL will become the ‘world’s biggest sporting event’, says Andrew Strauss Strauss also highlighted the significance of the spirit of cricket, saying the events of the last year-and-a-half -- when the Azeem Rafiq scandal unfolded and tarnished the image of England cricket -- had shown a lot more needed to be done to restore the image of the game. “The events over the last 18 months, whether they come from Yorkshire or elsewhere have shown we have a lot of work to do in this area, but the spirit of cricket demands this.” Changing Test cricket With England winning nine of the 10 Tests under coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, Strauss said the coming together of the duo had brought about a huge tactical shift in the way the longest format is being played now. “What those two extraordinary leaders of men — aided in no small part by Rob Key as director of cricket — have done, is redefine once again what the game of cricket is actually about.” With a lot of talk about Test cricket losing its significance amid the onslaught of domestic T20 leagues across the world, Strauss indicated that the popularity of traditional rivalries like the Ashes and series between major Test-playing nations will never go out of fashion, though some debt-laden national governing bodies could be at a disadvantage.