Howzat! JW3 hosts cricketing luminaries for discussion on Jewish community links
The panel featured Mike Brearley, who captained England to three Ashes victories, Amjad Khan, former England fast bowler-turned lawyer, and Test Match Special commentator Daniel Norcross
Three cricket legends captivated more than 120 people at JW3 this week, as a former England bowler explained why he is now fighting for the Jewish community.
The Fourth Annual Evening of Cricket took place on Monday night, featuring Mike Brearley, who captained England to three Ashes victories, Amjad Khan, a former England fast bowler-turned lawyer, and Test Match Special commentator Daniel Norcross.
In conversation with Daniel Lightman KC, the trio spoke at length about their distinguished careers, and links with the Jewish community.
This included Norcross explaining his mother used to pretend to be of the faith, because “Jews told the best jokes”, much to the delight of the audience. And Brearley, about his visits to synagogues as well has his mother, Majorie Goldsmith, who he said his family thought could have been Jewish, before doing a DNA test.
Amjad Khan, born in Copenhagen to Pakistani parents, didn’t claim any Jewish family connection, but he speak openly supporting the community in his home country, and the UK.
A prolific domestic cricketer, he received a Test cap for England in 2009, but told the audience he could have debuted a year earlier, but for the Mumbai terror attacks.
In 2008 he was on the verge of selection, before his “first experience of antisemitism”, as he described, following the shock of the attacks, which also targeted a Chabad house.
After hanging up his boots, he spent nine years qualifying as a barrister, but the attacks left a lasting impression, as he chose to put himself at the heart of the Copenhagen Jewish community’s fight for survival.
Speaking at JW3, Khan said there was an “antisemitic movement” in Scandinavia, and Denmark especially, “that wanted to not only ban – but criminalize – circumcision”.
“I thought they might succeed, which would be the end of Jewish life in Denmark.
“I became chairman of a Jewish organization” called Circuminfo, whose “goal was to prevent the criminalisation of Brit Milah”, a phrase he used without hesitation and perfect pronunciation.
“That took me down a route and opened my eyes to a lot of things.”
Amid rising levels of antisemitism, he reflected on “the way it affects my fellow citizens. Coming here, we have to think about security. Going out, can you wear a kippah? All these things I didn’t know anything about”.
When asked how to tackle antisemitism, he said the priority was to “make allies. I don’t think that the Jewish community should be alone in this fight.”
He added that the prevalence of antisemitism in some Muslim communities is “not a secret”.
“We should be able to just speak about it quite openly, both as Muslims and non-Muslims, but there is 100% antisemitism within the Muslim community”.
“The answer is parenting. I was brought up in a Muslim family, but we were taught to love our neighbours, love people of other faiths.”
Racism in the sport became particularly topical in November 2021 when cricket was engulfed in scandal. This was triggered by whistleblowing from former Yorkshire and England Under 19 Captain, Azeem Rafiq, who shed light on institutional racism at Yorkshire, before he was found to have made antisemitic comments himself.
Khan, who played for Kent and Sussex County Cricket Clubs, represented several players at Essex, who “were subjected to horrible racism”, as he helped to get them an apology, with the club admitting there had been structural hatred.
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