New Zealand legend Ross Taylor has revealed he experienced racism during his career, opening up about the "challenges" of being "a brown face in a vanilla line-up".
Taylor is of Samoan heritage on his mother's side and played 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is for New Zealand in an international career that spanned more than 15 years. The 38-year-old retired from international cricket earlier this year and has opened up about his experiences of racism and insensitive "banter" from teammates and officials in his new autobiography 'Ross Taylor Black and White'.
"Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport," Taylor wrote. "For much of my career I've been an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up.
"That has its challenges, many of which aren't readily apparent to your teammates or the cricketing public. Given that the Polynesian community is dramatically under-represented in the game, it's probably no surprise that people sometimes assume I'm Maori or Indian.
"In many ways, dressing room banter is the barometer. A team mate used to tell me, 'You're half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don't know what I'm referring to.'
"I was pretty sure I did. Other players also had to put up with comments that dwelt on their ethnicity. In all probability, a Pakeha [white New Zealander] listening to those sorts of comments would think, 'Oh, that's okay, it's just a bit of banter'.
"But he's hearing it as white person, and it's not directed at people like him. So, there's no pushback; no one corrects them. Then the onus falls on the targets.
"You wonder if you should pull them up but worry that you'll create a bigger problem or be accused of playing the race card by inflating harmless banter into racism. It's easier to develop a thick skin and let it slide, but is that the right thing to do?"
Taylor added that he felt the comments were not "coming from a racist perspective", adding: "I think they were insensitive and lacked the imagination and empathy to put themselves in the other person's shoes. Instead of the message being, 'You're one of us, mate,' it is, in effect, 'You're one of them'."
In a separate interview with Sky Sport, Taylor revealed he removed some stories of racism from his autobiography to avoid "compromising" players who are currently part of the New Zealand side.
"I didn't want it to detract from a lot of the other good stories that are out there," he said. "But at the same time, a few of the stories involved a few of the players who are still in the team, so I didn't want it to compromise them or put them in a compromising position because they've still got to have their career and they are still very young."
In a statement given to the New Zealand Herald, a spokesperson for New Zealand cricket said: "NZC deplores racism, is a staunch supporter of the NZ Human Rights Commission's 'Give Nothing to Racism' campaign, and is deeply disappointed Ross has been exposed to this type of behaviour. We'll definitely reach out to Ross to discuss the matter."
