Former South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has contradicted Ashwell Prince's statements claiming that the Proteas wanted to go back home after being racially abused during the 2005 Australia tour.
Arthur's statement comes as former South Africa batsman Ashwell Prince claimed that many Proteas players were racially abused on their Australia tour in 2005, and were urged to continue playing regardless.
"We made a stand against it. The team management went to Cricket Australia, who put extra security on the boundary. From my recollection, the team was upset about it as a whole. I don't remember any player saying, 'let's just go back out there,' flippantly. It affected us massively as a team," ESPNCricinfo quoted Arthur as saying.
"There is absolutely no room for racism whatsoever. Having been at Pakistan and Sri Lanka, whatever race, colour, religion everybody is, everybody is together," the former South Africa coach added.
Ashwell Prince had also said that the South African "system was broken", and there was never any unity for the decade while he was part of the national squad.
"The system is broken and has been for some time in our beloved SA, both in society and in sport. We return from isolation and we say to the world, look at us, we're back, oh, by the way, there's still no black people who can play the game, but we brought a few along," Prince said in a tweet.
On Thursday, Cricket South Africa had issued a statement expressing their support for the Black Lives Matter campaign.
"Black Lives Matter. It is as simple as that. As a national sporting body representing more than 56 million South Africans and with the privileged position of owning a platform as large as we do, it is of vital importance that we use our voice to educate and listen to others on topics involving all forms of discrimination," CSA's acting CEO Jacques Faul said in an official statement.
On Wednesday, England and West Indies cricketers had taken a knee to show their solidarity against racism and support the Black Lives Matter movement before the start of the first Test at the Ageas Bowl.
Prior to the three-match Test series, both England and West Indies had announced that they would be sporting a Black Lives Matter logo on their jerseys to show support with the anti-racism movement.
The Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum following the death of an African-American man named George Floyd, after a police officer, later identified as Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on Floyd's neck as suggested by the viral videos.
( With inputs from ANI )
