In 2020, after Essex beat Somerset in the Bob Willis Trophy final at Lord’s, an Essex youngster with one first-class appearance to his name made headlines for pouring beer over the head of a Muslim teammate during the team’s celebrations on the Lord’s balcony.
Essex captain Tom Westley made a statement apologising on behalf of his team. “As a group we have come together and discussed the event and on reflection we are disappointed we let this happen,” said Westley. “Moving forward the squad will be more responsible and aware of our actions.” The club also released a statement making clear that the celebrations “did not meet the inclusive values of the organisation.”
After England won the T20 World Cup on Sunday, Jos Buttler became the latest England captain to be praised for ensuring that his two Muslim players were not sprayed with Champagne during his side’s celebrations. Praised, essentially, for ensuring that an act that would instantly make the front pages for the wrong reasons, did not take place.
In 2021, Nasser Hussain described the way in which England wait until Moeen Ali is out of the way before uncorking their victory Champagne as a “mark of respect”. That’s not necessarily untrue, but the opposite would be a mark of extreme inconsideration. It is a shame that that is the bar above which we feel necessary to praise.
The ECB state, on the subject of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: “We want cricket to be a game for everyone.” Why then, would you want to exclude any of your players from any part of what should be one of the proudest moment of their careers? Why would you want them removed from the images that will be used to celebrate this achievement for years to come?
When two stalwarts of the team are Muslim, why is showering the team in alcohol a necessary, immovable part of the celebrations? There is marked difference between players drinking alcohol and them pouring it all over themselves. Any Muslims in a team are still able to stay around when their teammates are drinking but when they are showering each other with booze, they have to momentarily leave the celebratory setting. When you have just won a World Cup, why would you want, even for a second, to exclude anyone from the celebrations? Is the spraying of alcohol really such necessary part of their post-victory ritual?
There are, and have been for some time, non-alcoholic alternatives. Jacob’s Creek, the ICC’s wine partner, sell a sparkling, non-alcoholic wine. It should be on England to ensure that is used for any celebratory activities. In fact, it might have been. Had Pakistan won, there would have been no alcohol sprayed. England either assumed what they were about to spray was alcoholic when it wasn’t, or made no attempts to secure an alternative. Either way isn’t really good enough.
This obviously does not amount to anything close to racism nor should it feature particularly highly in any side’s pre-tournament plans. But England are in the privileged position of already having won a World Cup with two Muslims in the squad in the recent past – there has been ample time for reflection.
The landscape has also changed markedly since their 2019 World Cup triumph. The game has been rocked by allegation after allegation of racism, often on an institutional level. The ugly headlines and painful testimonies from the likes of Azeem Rafiq have encouraged players all over the country to confront the question: how can we make our game more inclusive for participants from all backgrounds? How can we can our clubs be more welcoming environments? You’d hope that those conversations will have occurred within the England dressing room as well.
England did not commit an egregious offence by once more showering each other with Champagne but at the very least, the decision to briefly exclude Moeen and Rashid from the celebrations was a missed opportunity to make a show of how English cricket has moved forward over the last three years.
