Racism rocks England cricket: After Yorkshire, Essex sink in controversy; sponsor pulls out

Racism rocks England cricket, again

London, November 24: Former Essex pacer Jahid Khan has accused racist abuse while playing for the English county side a few years back.

Jahid is the third player from Essex to accuse it of racism that has rocked English cricket in the wake of the Yorkshire-Azeem Rafiq episode.

The 35-year-old cricketer follows Zoheb Sharif and Maurice Chambers who have also accused the club of racial discrimination.

Jahid, who represented Essex in seven first-class matches between 2005 and 2009, described the club as "a white man's world where brown people were outsiders" after allegedly being asked by a teammate if he was "going to bomb" the club.

"It was a white man's world where brown people were outsiders. I wanted to change my voice. I tried to deepen it. I really wanted to fit in," Jahid was quoted as saying by The Cricketer.

"I felt like an outsider all the time I was at Chelmsford. I was always fearing what they would come up with and it made it incredibly hard to concentrate on my cricket," he added.

Meanwhile, it has also come to light that a sponsor has pulled out of its association with the club.

"Seetec is listed as one of eight Platinum Club Partners on the Essex website and confirmed to inews.co.uk that it was suspending its ties with the club as a result of the historic and deeply damaging allegations," inews.co.uk said in a report.

"We have suspended our ties with Essex County Cricket Club with immediate effect," a company spokesman told the website.

"Through the services we deliver, our employee owners work with diverse communities to help people realise their life ambitions.

“This is part of our wider commitment to social inclusion as it is important to us that the communities we serve have equal access to opportunity. Any form of racism should not be tolerated."

Earlier, John Faragher resigned as Essex chairman on November 11 following a claim he used racist language at a board meeting in 2017, which he strongly denied.