Viewers watching England’s first Test of the summer were given an uncompromising alternative to cakes and sixes
West Indies were flying a Black Lives Matter flag from their balcony. It was one of the first things you saw as the cameras panned across the empty ground on the opening morning of the opening match of this strange and delayed cricket season.
Later, when they came out on to the ground, you could see their players were wearing one black glove each. Both teams took the knee before the start of play and as they did it West Indies raised their gloved fists in salute, a clear, conscious echo of the protests made by the sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith as they stood on the podium at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.
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