Somerset investigating Jack Brooks over historical tweets
Jack Brooks being investigated by Somerset for tweets sent in 2012; two separate messages included racist language; Brooks says: "I acknowledge that the language used in two tweets I made in 2012 was unacceptable and I deeply regret using it."
Thursday 18 November 2021 14:52, UK
Somerset are investigating Jack Brooks over historical tweets that included racist language.
A Somerset statement read: "Late on Sunday evening, Somerset County Cricket Club was made aware of allegations regarding one of our players, Jack Brooks.
"An investigation was immediately launched and is ongoing.
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"It would be inappropriate for the club to comment further until this process has been concluded.
"A further statement will be made in due course."
Brooks tweeted "Cheers N****" to Tymal Mills in 2012 in response to Mills tweeting about England winning a series in Sri Lanka.
He sent an identical tweet to cricketer Stewart Laudat, also in 2012.
In a statement, Brooks said: "I acknowledge that the language used in two tweets I made in 2012 was unacceptable and I deeply regret using it.
"I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused to anybody who may have seen these tweets."
Brooks accepts "disrespectful and wrong" behaviour after Rafiq mention
Brooks was one of a number of players named in Azeem Rafiq's statement to MPs this week, including Gary Ballance, Alex Hales, Michael Vaughan and more.
Rafiq said Brooks would call India batter Cheteshwar Pujara 'Steve' even though Pujara would prefer him not to.
In Brooks' statement, he said: "With reference to my naming in Azeem Rafiq's statement to MPs this week, the use of the name "Steve" related to some people having difficult names to pronounce.
"When this has occurred in the past in a dressing room environment, it has been commonplace to give nicknames, regardless of creed or race.
"I admit to having used it in this context and now accept that it was disrespectful and wrong to do so.
"I have reached out and apologised to Cheteshwar for any offence that I have caused him or his family.
"At the time I didn't recognise this as racist behaviour, but I can now see that it was not acceptable."
Laudat: It upsets me that Brooks' character being questioned
Stewart Laudat, who played minor counties cricket for Oxfordshire, was one of the two people who received the tweets from Brooks in 2012.
However, the 50-year-old took to social media on Thursday to defend Brooks, saying: "With regard to the historical tweet that has come to light between my friend Jack Brooks and I, I would like to state that I understand that things that have been said or expressed are now under increased scrutiny and rightly so if we are to address all forms of discrimination.
"But without context, misunderstandings and misconceptions are easily made. It upsets me that Jack's character is being questioned over this tweet because I've known him for a long time and have never been made to feel uncomfortable in any conversations we've had.
"I consider Jack to be a good friend and a credit to his family and his profession."
Best: I'm not surprised by Rafiq revelations
Speaking to Sky Sports News about widespread allegations of institutional racism in English professional cricket, former Yorkshire and West Indies bowler Tino Best, who was the club's overseas player in 2010, said he was aware of the discrimination faced by Rafiq and other team members during his time at Headingley.
Best said: "Having been around Azeem Rafiq, Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad, they would always bring up the stories about how they were being treated, how they were not getting opportunities and how they were being treated from the youth system.
"Everything that Azeem said in the DCMS hearing was what they told me 11 years ago. Azeem probably didn't go too in-depth when we spoke, he only just touched the surface.
"When I was at Yorkshire I heard that story about Matthew Hoggard from those guys. Around the cricketing world we would hear about certain players and how they interacted with certain players.
"I'm not surprised about these findings. I didn't see it first hand, I was a Black guy in a Yorkshire dressing room and they're not going to say things to those three players with me listening.
"If they were going to say those things, they wouldn't have said them around me because everyone would have been treading on egg shells, I am the second Black guy to have ever played for Yorkshire.
"So I didn't hear it, but I would hear stories when we had dinnertime with those three guys of Pakistani descent, and it was mind-boggling because when I was there, I never experienced anything like that.
"I know the drinking stuff was a little different, we used to have drinking games and stuff. Me being an overseas pro, I drank what I wanted to drink, they couldn't force me, but with the younger guys they had no choice.
"And I always had in the back of my mind 'Muslims aren't really supposed to drink', but for the bond with the team, you had to do that. I don't think it was fair to those guys."
Best alleged that on one occasion, Martyn Moxon, the county's head coach at the time, told him he would send him back to his own country when the bowler questioned why he had been dropped for a game.
He explained: "What transpired was I got dropped for a game, I was absolutely livid. At the end of a game when coach Moxon was about to high-five me, I kind of shunned him. He called me into his office, he was saying things like he would send me back on the next flight to my country.
"I called Moxon at the end of my career, he took about three weeks to get back to me. He finally reached out and I said 'Coach can you remember the incident that took place back in 2010?' He said he remembered. I said 'What were you intending to get out of me by saying it?'
"And he was like: 'I would have said that to any player'. And I said 'Well coach, it doesn't make any sense me and you having a conversation.'"
Best also said there needs to be a renewed focus on educating children around discrimination in order to properly tackle the issue in society, as well as in sport.
The 40-year-old said: "You've got to be educated from a young age not to discriminate because somebody may be transgender, white, Chinese, Black, but all of us are human beings.
"No one is born racist, it is something that is practised and your parents must pull you out on it even as a child, even something as trivial as saying 'I am lighter-skinned than that person'. You've got to call your kids out on it.
"No one is better because of their skin colour. I say we have to educate people from a young age so that when it comes to the workplace, people can be more fair, open and equal to each other.
"The problem is institutionalised in cricket, but it is a society problem."
