Shamsi happy with Proteas
JOBURG – Respect and racism addressed by Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi said respecting the views of everyone was his key takeout from the recent culture camp held in Skukuza.
An extended 32-man, high-performance squad featuring nationally contracted players and the South Africa A team, as well as players who have been identified as in the plans for the near future, concluded recently.
An updated values system that held respect, empathy and belonging were highlighted as the prevailing top pillars from the gathering.
“I think for me, the biggest thing was that as a group we realised that there’s a lot of strength in being able to communicate, rather than just sitting and assuming,”
the 30-year-old said.
“Once we air out our views and understand things from the other person’s perspective, then things become a lot clearer and a lot easier for us to understand where people are coming from, where their hurt is coming from, where their happiness is coming from.”
The race debate and grievances from former players over discrimination have been making headlines over the past month. Shamsi acknowledged that what happened to those players cannot be ignored. “I think it was very important for us as a group to have a discussion regarding racism and race,” he explained.
“Because as hard as it is to speak about things like that, the fact is that it’s a big part of South Africa due to our history. We were divided in the past and it’s important for us as a group to speak about those things.
“In the Proteas environment, I’ve never personally experienced any racism. The past players have spoken about it and how things were not equal and stuff like that. I think even the players that did make it, had to go through some hurdles that they shouldn’t have had to experience if there was a level playing field.”
Despite this, and a host of veteran players retiring in the past two seasons, Shamsi felt the young players coming through have the ability to step up.
“We always want to improve and get better,” he added. “We’re in a unique position at the moment where most of our senior players retired in a big clump and experience is something you can’t buy.”
