Cricket needs to tackle English drinking culture, cricketers cannot be forced to visit clubhouses: Tino Best

Former West Indies pacer Tino Best said that cricket needs to tackle the ‘English drinking culture’ as it is “hampering” opportunities for black and Asian players. Best pointed out that cricketers should not be pressurized to go into pubs.

“The culture around cricket is drinking. That is a big problem. People shouldn’t be pressured to go into the clubhouse and drink eight or nine pints to be a part of the team,” Best, who played with Rafiq at Yorkshire, told BBC Sport.

“If you’re not a part of the drinking culture, if you’re not a part of the boys’ club, you’re not going to get opportunities after cricket,” he said.

“That is something that is hampering people of colour and Asian ethnicity.”

Best, 40, said he recalled how players with Asian heritage such as Rafiq, Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad were treated at Yorkshire in 2010 and how they feared reprisals if they went public with their complaints.

“Me being a person of colour as well, I would always be with them as well.”

“I would be like ‘wow’,” he said. “It was just astounding to hear what those guys were saying back in 2010. And there was no platform for them to really open up, because guys would have probably lost contracts, probably kicked out of the club. Guys were fearful of that.”

Best believes “education is the key to moving forward”.

“It is like rehab. How do you beat alcoholism? You have got to go to rehab,” he said.

“I didn’t hear anyone say anything directly but when I was at Nando’s with the guys having dinner they would talk about stories and things that happened to them, and it is hurtful, I wouldn’t repeat them.