England's Jordan backs right to kneel, but says real change will come from talking

Jordan reiterated that he still believes taking a knee is an important act for sports people

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - England all-rounder Chris Jordan believes there is still much to be gained by teams taking a knee to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement, but says it is the conversations that go on behind closed doors that will make the most difference.

South Africa coach Mark Boucher said his side were unlikely to kneel before matches as they return to international cricket for the first time in eight months with a six-match home limited overs series against England starting in Cape Town on Nov. 27.

Boucher explained that his side had numerous discussions about racial equality in sport over the last few months and felt they had reached a point of unity on the subject as a team.

The England team stopped the practice of taking a knee before games in August.

"The situation is very individual, a lot of the honest work going on around the matter will be done in private," Jordan told reporters on Friday. "The real change will come through conversations one-on-one with people.

"If that is what they (South Africa) as an organisation believe in then I don t think it should be judged from any other point of view than it is a personal decision. We can move on."

But Jordan reiterated that he still believes taking a knee is an important act for sports people, as role models, to show their support for BLM.

"One hundred percent. But I am quite open-minded around the topic in terms of the different types of work that can be done. Taking the knee is something very visual that people see especially when they turn on sport.

"But personally, I m a big believer in the real conversations that are taking place behind the scenes, especially among our group as an England team. It is clear a lot of the real change will come from that."