Ebony Rainford-Brent, the first black woman to play for England, posted the sickening correspondence on Twitter; she captioned her tweet: “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 up there!”
By PA Media
Last Updated: 17/11/21 9:43pm
Ebony Rainford-Brent became the first black woman to play for England in 2001
Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent has shared a picture of a racist hate letter she has received, where she was told to “leave our country”.
Rainford-Brent, who became the first black woman to play for England in 2001, posted the sickening correspondence on Twitter.
She captioned her tweet: “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 up there!”
Azeem Rafiq says he expects many others to come forward and speak out about their experiences of racism in the game
Rainford-Brent played 29 times for England between 2001 and 2010 and soon moved into broadcasting, featuring regularly for Sky Sports and Test Match Special.
She joined forces with her Sky Sports colleague Michael Holding in the summer of 2020 to feature in a powerful video discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, a campaign that saw the pair awarded the Freedom of the City of London.
Rafiq says his fight against racism is more important than anything he achieved on the pitch as a player
In the short film, the 37-year-old spoke about how regular comments about her ethnicity made her question her future in the game.
Along with her broadcasting career and a role as director of Surrey women’s team, she set up the ACE Programme – a charity aimed at increasing cricketing opportunities for members of the African-Caribbean community.
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