New Zealand Cricket chief apologises to England’s Archer for racial abuse

England’s pacer Jofra Archer, who claimed to have been subjected to a racial abuse, was assured by New Zealand Cricket chief David White that theer will not be a repeat of the incident.

White visited Archer in his hotel room to offer apologies and also promised a step-up security to avoid any such incident in the future.

England and New Zealand cricket boards also launched a joint investigation into the matter in a bid to keep the gentlemen’s game clean from racism.

White said he had offered assurances to Archer that there would be extra security to ensure there was no repeat when the second Test started in Hamilton on Friday.

“I just had a good chat to him,” the NZC chief executive said in Hamilton.

“I said that we were very sorry that he had to experience that in our country and we’re very disappointed, but he was very thankful I had made the effort to come see him.”

Archer, who was born in Barbados and represented West Indies at Under-19 level, scored 30 runs on Monday to delay New Zealand’s innings and 65-run victory in the first Test.

The 24-year-old then took to Twitter to say he had found it “a bit disturbing” to hear the racial insults coming from one person in the crowd.

White said, if identified, the alleged perpetrator would be referred to the police and New Zealand Cricket would push for the person to be banned for life from attending cricket matches.

“Our team is working closely with the team at Bay Oval just going through the security footage and trying to get as much information as we can and hopefully we’ll find the individual over the next day or so,” White added.

White ordered extra security to ensure there was no repeat at the second Test beginning Friday in Hamilton and called on spectators to “self-police” unacceptable behaviour.

“We’ll be increasing security around the areas where the players are, in particular when they’re coming on and off the field, but it’s quite difficult when players are on the boundary,” he told Newstalk ZB.

“I’d like to think there’s a bit of self-policing going on as well, we shouldn’t be accepting this kind of behaviour in our society.”

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who lives close to the Bay Oval ground, said he would also seek out Archer to offer an apology.

“It’s a horrific thing,” Williamson told Fairfax media.

“In a country, and a setting where it is very much multi-cultural, it’s something we need to put to bed quickly and hope nothing like that ever happens again.”

England team director Ashley Giles said the 24-year-old paceman had been affected by the incident but thought his team mates would offer him plenty of support.

“The tweet that went out was obviously emotional. It hurts,” Giles said.

“You know what our team is like, they’ll rally round him pretty well but it’s a serious incident. He’s a young man making his way in the game and we don’t need this sort of thing.”

Meanwhile, England players will rally around an “emotional” Archer after the paceman was racially abused by a spectator in New Zealand, director of cricket Ashley Giles said on Tuesday, as local officials scoured CCTV footage to identify the culprit.

“It’s a shame that sort of thing is still in society,” Giles told reporters after Archer was subjected to racist comments.

The 24-year-old later told ESPNcricinfo that the abuser was a solitary New Zealand spectator making comments “about the colour of my skin”.

Archer has been a powerful advocate for diversity in cricket and Giles, when asked how the player was faring, replied: “The tweet, it was obviously emotional, it hurts.

“We fully support Jof, there is no place for racism in the game... you know what our team is like, they’ll rally round him.”

The incident has overshadowed the result of the first Test ever played at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval, which New Zealand won by an innings and 65 runs. New Zealand and England are working together to investigate the incident and Black Caps coach Gary Stead said he wanted the person responsible caught.

“Hopefully, it was just one idiot in the crowd and they deal with it,” he told Radio New Zealand.

Agencies