Thirty-one current and former domestic and international South African players including Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, JP Duminy and Herschelle Gibbs, and five current coaches including Justin Ontong, the national fielding coach - all people of colour - have signed a letter in support of Lungi Ngidi and the Black Lives Matter movement . The statement, released to the media and seen and verified by ESPNcricinfo, is a collective effort aimed at showing solidarity with the anti-racism campaigns sweeping across the world. It calls on Cricket South Africa and white cricketers to show their support for equality.

The letter comes after a week of racially charged rhetoric in the country's cricket circles, and notes that, collectively, the signatories "are not surprised" by the criticism Ngidi has copped from former players such as Pat Symcox, Boeta Dippenaar, Rudi Steyn and Brian McMillan.

"We commend Lungi Ngidi for supporting #BlackLivesMatter - and we'd like to add our support for it too," the letter states. "We note the criticism aimed at Lungi for expressing his views - and we hope that Cricket South Africa (CSA), together with fellow cricketers - both present and past - will come out strongly in support of #BLM.

'We note too that the most outspoken criticism directed at Ngidi has come via former players such as Pat Symcox, Boeta Dippenaar, Rudi Steyn, Brian McMillan and others, and we urge that their views be challenged.

"We are not surprised at their comments.

"Given South Africa's well-known past, black cricketers have borne the brunt of subtle and overt racist behaviour for many years, including from some colleagues. Consequently, there is a need to understand how white privilege feeds into the perpetuation of these old attitudes and assumptions."

The statement is a response to events which began when Ngidi said he hoped South Africa's players would join the rest of the world in "making a stand" in support of BLM. The following day, Ngidi was criticised by Symcox, Dippenaar and others for not being equally vocal about the murders of mostly-white farmers in the country. The South African Cricketers' Association stood by Ngidi and CSA issued a statement making plain their support for BLM. Since then, several players of colour have begun telling their stories on social media, including Ashwell Prince, who called the South African system "broken".

While the statement has urged the South African cricketing community to rally in support of Ngidi, so far, only one current international, Tabraiz Shamsi, has made any public comment in support of pacer.

@NgidiLungi I am right behind you boy!

You said NOTHING wrong!

Black, white or brown... NO ONE should be treated with hatred, cruelty or differently based on their skin colour#BlackLivesMatter #AllLivesMatter #Peace #LungiNgidi

— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) July 9, 2020

The signatories to the statement also asserted that South Africa's history of segregation, which ended only 26 years ago with the first democratic elections, has meant that institutionalised and systemic forms of racism are rampant in the current game, despite early hopes that they would be rooted out. The players and coaches said they had previously seen racial hangovers as "teething problems," which would "be resolved if we are patient," but that they the views of Symcox, Dippenanar, Rudi Steyn and McMillan suggest otherwise. "After almost three decades of cricket unity, the views expressed from one side of the racial divide are still very much part of our lives, and we now believe teething problems cannot be allowed to continue for this long."

No white players, past or present, or white coaches, were approached to add to their names to this statement, as people of colour aimed to take a unified stance in expressing their own voices, which some of them have argued have been routinely silenced. "All the signatories to the release stated that they have stories to tell about the racism they have had to endure as they strove to get to the top of their sporting careers. It is important to bring these into the open, and for CSA to support black cricketers who come forward to air their stories."

The support for BLM received added momentum last week, with Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent featured in a moving documentary on the Sky Sports broadcast ahead of the first Test between England and West Indies. Both Holding and Rainford-Brent spoke of their experiences of racial discrimination over vastly different periods of time - Holding's in the 1970s and 1980s and Rainford-Brent, as recently as 2008. Their interviews inspired Prince to speak out, and it may do the same for several other South African players.

Issues of race have been ever-present in South African cricket, where only nine black African players have been capped at Test level, and a target system remains in place to address historical discrimination. Currently, the six domestic franchises are required to field six players of colour in their XIs each time they take the field, of which at least three must be black African while the national team is required to field six players of colour, including at least two black Africans, on average over the course of a season. South Africa exceeded targets in the 2018-19 season but are expected to fall short in 2019-20.