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 image of the sickening correspondence on Twitter.

She captioned her post: “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!”

The comments on the handwritten letter included a reference to ‘white cricket culture’ and instructed Rainford-Brent to ‘leave our country.’

It comes just a day after Azeem Rafiq gave evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee about his wide-ranging allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

Rafiq told MPs he felt “isolated, humiliated at times” due to the bombardment of racism he suffered and the “constant uses of the word p***'” during his time at the club.

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

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

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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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