17 November 2021

England’s first black woman cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent shares sickening racist hate letter she received

17 November 2021

Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent has shared a picture of a racist hate letter she has received, where she was told to “leave our country”.

Rainford-Brent, who became the first black woman to play for England in 2001, posted the sickening correspondence on Twitter.

She captioned her tweet: “Interesting… Born in South London but apparently I was found naked in Africa as a primitive. Had some letters in my time but this one up there!”

Ebony Rainford-Brent has embarked on a successful broadcasting career (Michael Steele/PA) (PA Archive)

The handwritten letter read: “White cricket culture is white culture you racist B***h! Who invited you to my country? Go B***h go!! White culture is wiping your a*** with white toilet paper!!!

“We found you NAKED in Africa Ebony! NAKED, illiterate, primitive! Yes primitive Ebony!!

“Leave our country B***h! Leave now! Go! Go Today!”

Rainford-Brent played 29 times for England between 2001 and 2010 and soon moved into broadcasting, featuring regularly for Sky Sports and Test Match Special.

Ebony Rainford-Brent and Michael Holding discussed the Black Lives Matter movement in a powerful video last year (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

She joined forces with her Sky Sports colleague Michael Holding in the summer of 2020 to feature in a powerful video discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, a campaign that saw the pair awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

In the short film, the 37-year-old spoke about how regular comments about her ethnicity made her question her future in the game.

Along with her broadcasting career and a role as director of Surrey women’s team, she set up the ACE Programme – a charity aimed at increasing cricketing opportunities for members of the African-Caribbean community.

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