'If you play for England, we will shoot you' - Former England cricketer Phillip DeFreitas recalls his experience with racism

Black Lives Matter campaign across various parts of the world in the wake of the death of African American George Floyd. After the incident, a few of cricketers have also raised their voice stating that they faced racism during their career as well. Darren Sammy and Michael Carberry are couple of notable names and now former England all-rounder Phillip DeFreitas has joined the bandwagon.

He played 44 Tests and 103 ODIs for England during his 11-year career at the international level. But DeFreitas was at the receiving end of a lot of torcher if he is to be believed. Recalling his scary experience of racism, the 54-year-old said that he received multiple death threats and was also threatened to shoot him down if he plays for England.

DeFreitas also stated that he was not able to concentrate on his game due to the threats. “I received hate letters from the National Front not only once, I received that two or three times saying, ‘If you play for England, we will shoot you’. I had police looking after my house. I had a sponsored car with my name on it and I had to remove that. So can you imagine me driving down to London?

I’m in a hotel two days before a Test match at Lord’s and I’m thinking, do I play or don’t I? Am I going to have a sniper?” Phillip DeFreitas said while speaking to Sky Cricket Podcast.

I had no support, says DeFreitas

However, despite all the hurdles, DeFreitas managed to play for his country for 11 years and also picked 140 Test and 115 ODI wickets respectively apart from scoring more than 1500 runs combined in both the formats. And he is proud of what he achieved in his career. However, Phillip DeFreitas also said that he had no support during these tough times and had to deal with it on his own.

“How can I focus on playing cricket for England with all that but with my determination, I would not allow those people to beat me ever. I had no help, I had no support; I had to deal with that all on my own, it hurts quite a lot. I remember going home to my Mum and saying ‘I don’t feel like I belong there’. But I’m proud of what I achieved,” he added.