The racial abuse levelled at England star Jofra Archer by a spectator during the first Test at Bay Oval is a shame because it doesn’t represent what New Zealand is about, says Archer’s New Zealand-born teammate Ben Stokes.
Archer posted on Twitter about racial abuse that was directed at him from a man near the scoreboard as he made his way off the field on the final day after being dismissed.
“To receive abuse like that is a horrific thing to be a part of,” Stokes said.
“Jofra has received a huge amount of support from us as players, that’s the main thing for us is making him aware that we’ve got his back in a pretty horrific incident.”
“The support that we showed him helped him get over it as well as he possible could, that’s what we do great as a team, we rally around each other.”
Stokes said the Kiwis who had shown Archer support following the incident were more reflective of New Zealand than the “idiot in the crowd” who had racially abused the star fast bowler.
“It’s a shame, because it doesn’t represent what New Zealand is about as a country whatsoever,” he said.
“I think what New Zealand represents is how much support Jofra has had not just from the New Zealand cricket team but New Zealand in general after that incident.”
While it was a necessity to move on from the incident with the second Test in Hamilton starting on Friday, Stokes felt more needed to be done to make people aware of racism.
“It’s something that we should be made aware of, I guess Raheem Sterling has done a great job in football in terms of making people aware of it, it shouldn’t be happening in a sporting environment whatsoever.”
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