West Indies legend Holding left confused by de Kock’s apology

Dubai : Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding has said that South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock’s decision to withdraw from the team’s ICC T20 World Cup match against the West Indies and later, following an uproar, issuing a statement that he was ready to take the knee, had left him confused.

In a reported show of ‘defiance’, de Kock had withdrawn from the match against West Indies after Cricket South Africa (CSA) issued a directive asking all players to take the knee in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter movement’. But later the South African said that he was sorry for “all the hurt, confusion and anger” that his decision had caused and added that he “wasn’t a racist” as was being portrayed.

De Kock has now said that the misunderstanding has been cleared and he will take the knee along with the rest of his team-mates.

“Has he now come to the realisation that what people are trying to do is real and worthwhile supporting or did he not know what the gesture was or what people were trying to do? What was it?” Holding said to the Herald and The Age. “This thing has been going on for months. This is not a new thing.

“There’s a worldwide (BLM) movement going on. The entire world has accepted a specific gesture (taking the knee), a specific action of supporting that movement. You are going to take it upon yourself to then think I can support it another way?”

“For me, it is a very simple matter. If there is an action supporting a particular movement, and you believe in that movement you take the action. If you do not believe in that movement you do not take the action,” said the West Indies great.

However, Holding, said he was willing to give the South African cricketer a second chance after the lengthy apology he has tendered.

“His actions down the road will tell us yes or no. It’s not something you can hide. You can’t hide your feelings about your situation forever. That is something people will find out whether you are genuine or not in whatever sphere of life you are dealing with. It’s a wait and see situation. I am happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he just made a mistake, and he has seen how dumb it was, and he’s changing his outlook,” added Holding.