FILE PHOTO: Cricket – Third Test – England v West Indies – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain – July 24, 2020. Former England womens cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Michael Steele/Pool via REUTERS
November 18, 2021
(Reuters) – Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent revealed on Wednesday she had received hate mail with racist abuse where the sender had asked her to “leave our country”.
Rainford-Brent, the first Black woman to play for England when she made her debut in 2001 aged 17, shared an image of the handwritten letter on social media — two days after Azeem Rafiq gave damning testimony that catalogued racism in the sport.
The letter contained a number of expletives and asked the 37-year-old, ‘Who invited you to my country?’ and described her as “illiterate, primitive” and being found “naked in Africa”.
“Interesting… Born in South London but apparently I was found naked in Africa as a primitive. Had some letters in my time but this one (is) up there,” Rainford-Brent wrote on Twitter https://twitter.com/ejrainfordbrent/status/1461058046650691584.
Rainford-Brent played for England for nine years and was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list earlier this year for her services to the sport and charity.
Now a commentator, she teamed up with former West Indies cricketer Michael Holding last year to discuss racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
