NZ vs ENG: Kane Williamson To Personally Apologise To Jofra Archer For Racial Abuse

Williamson asserted that the Kiwis did not know about what had happened until Archer decided to tweet about it

England pacer Jofra Archer came across some racial abuse by the spectators during the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui. The incident happened on the fifth and the final day of the match after which the pacer reported the incident to the team's security at the ground. After the match, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) issued an apology to Archer while home team captain Kane Williamson said that he will personally apologise to England pacer. He also revealed that the Kiwis did not know about what had happened until Archer decided to tweet about it. “It is certainly against everything that we as Kiwis are about, and I certainly hope that nothing like that ever happens again. 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,” stuff.co.nz quoted Williamson as saying. “It is 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,” he added. Archer had heard the abuse after he was sent back to the pavilion at the Bay Oval. He then went on to report the comments to the team's security at the ground. After the match, he also tweeted about the incident and said,

A bit disturbing hearing racial insults today whilst battling to help save my team , the crowd was been amazing this week except for that one guy , @TheBarmyArmy was good as usual also

— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) November 25, 2019

The NZChad also released a statement and confirmed that they would be making an official apology to Archer. “NZC has zero-tolerance towards abusive or offensive language at any of its venues and will refer to any developments in the case to the police,” NZC said in an official statement. New Zealand had defeated England in the first Test by an innings and 65 runs. Both teams will next take on each other in the second Test, slated to begin from November 29 at Hamilton.