MICHAEL HOLDING has a simple message for all sportsmen and women as they navigate the issue of racism in 2021: “If you don’t kneel, I know where you stand.”

The West Indies cricketing great never intended to become a lightning rod for the anti-racism cause, and spent many of his 67 years actively avoiding the battleground.

But he grasped the nettle in unforgettable fashion in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, filling a rain delay during England’s first home Test of 2020 with a passionate call to arms that turned heads and, much later, won awards.