Thirty former South Africa cricketers, including Makhaya Ntini, Herchelle Gibbs and Vernon Philander, on Tuesday extended their solidarity behind current South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi in his support of the global Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, stating racism remains part of the game in the country.

In a statement, the former cricketers not only threw their weight behind Ngidi, but also lashed out at ex-Proteas cricketers Pat Symcox and Boeta Dippenar who had criticized the pacer for supporting the BLM campaign.

Ntini, Philander, Gibbs, Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy and Paul Adams were among the 30 cricketers who have signed the statement.

"We commend Lungi Ngidi for supporting Black Lives Matter - and wed like to add our support for it too. We note the criticism aimed at Lungi for expressing his views and we hope that Cricket South Africa (CSA), together with fellow cricketers - both present and past - will come out strongly in support of BLM.

"We note too that the most outspoken criticism directed at Ngidi has come via former players such as Pat Symcox, Boeta Dippenaar, Rudi Steyn, Brian McMillan and others, and we urge that their views be challenged," read the statement which was published on ''Sport24''.

The former players said they were not surprised when the likes of Symcox and Dippenar criticised Ngidi. Dippenar had responded saying "all lives matter" and Ngidi should also talk about the death of white farmers in the country.

"Given South Africa''s well-known past, black cricketers have borne the brunt of subtle and overt racist behaviour for many years, including from some colleagues... there is a need to understand how white privilege feeds into the perpetuation of these old attitudes and assumptions.