‘Archer incident against everything we as Kiwis are about’ : Kane Williamson

After Archer tweeted about incident, New Zealand Cricket issued a release which confirmed that they would be making an official apology to the bowler and also reiterated the zero tolerance attitude to such incident.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is gutted after reports have surfaced of a racial abuse aimed at England’s Jofra Archer and he wants to personally apologise to the bowler. Williamson, who grew up and still lives near the Bay Oval in Tauranga, confessed that he was shocked to hear about the incident and said that his side was not aware of the incident until Archer tweeted about it on Monday night.

Jofra Archer, Kane Williamson (HT Collage)

“It’s certainly against everything that we as Kiwis are about, and I certainly hope that nothing like that ever happens again,” Williamson told Stuff.co.nz. “I can only apologise on behalf of Kiwis to Jofra, not only from our team and how we look to conduct ourselves, but what we expect of Kiwis in general.

“It’s a horrific thing. In a country, and a setting where it is very much multi-cultural, it’s something we need to put to bed quickly and hope nothing like that ever happens again. It certainly won’t if there’s any influence we can have on it.

“Was I shocked? Absolutely, 100 percent. I will try see him over the next few days if I can, definitely.”

After Archer tweeted about incident, New Zealand Cricket issued a release which confirmed that they would be making an official apology to the bowler and also reiterated the zero tolerance attitude to such incident.

“NZC has zero tolerance towards abusive or offensive language at any of its venues and will refer any developments in the case to police,” the statement said.

Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket, said that the team would rally round after after what he described as a “serious incident”.

“It’s really unfortunate,” said Giles. “It’s a shame that sort of thing is still in our society. There was something said from the crowd, from the scoreboard area, which was offensive. Jofra reported this to the steward immediately as he came off. He also reported it to our security as he got back into the changing-rooms. The sense was that it was a racist abuse.