'Do some research before criticising' - Jofra Archer hits back at Michael Holding over his Black Lives Matter comments

West Indies great Michael Holding recently slammed England and Australia for not taking a knee during their limited-overs series. Holding, who has been a vocal advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement, said that it was ‘lame’ of teams like Pakistan, Australia and England to not show solidarity towards the battle against racism.

Holding expressed his disappointment and said that individual players could unilaterally make the gesture if they wanted to ‘send a signal’ to show they ‘accept things need to change’. Responding to Holding’s comments, England’s Barbados-born speedster Jofra Archer has pointed out that nobody involved within the England set-up has ‘forgotten’ about the movement.

Holding doesn’t know anything that’s going on: Jofra Archer

Archer, who himself has been at the receiving end of racial abuse on several occasions, claimed progress is being made ‘in the background’. “I’m pretty sure Michael Holding doesn’t know anything that is going on behind the scenes. I don’t think he has spoken to [ECB chief executive] Tom Harrison,” said Archer as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“I’ve spoken to Tom and we have stuff running in the background. We’ve not forgotten. No-one here has forgotten about Black Lives Matter. “I think that is a bit harsh for him to say that. I think it is a bit harsh for Mikey to not do some research before criticising,” Archer further said.

Holding, while responding to Archer’s comments, opined that there should be no conflict between taking action in the background and continuing to make a gesture in public.

“Taking a knee does not prevent other action from taking place. Those who take a knee are not substituting the gesture for other positive action. Nobody should have a problem with it. It is worldwide recognition of calling attention to racial prejudice and injustice,” said the West Indies great.

Recently, Archer was yet again subjected to racial abuse after England suffered a 19-run defeat in the first ODI against Australia. A troll racially attacked Archer on social media and said that the speedster’s jewellery and watch were ‘probably stolen’. 25-year-old Archer was also racially abused online after being found guilty of breaching the quarantine rules during England’s Test series against West Indies.