5 times cricket was tainted with racism

Utseya claims his non-selection racist, Vermeulen targets him with racist rant on Facebook

Utseya's claims that his non-selection had something to do with racism may be debatable since he had been banned from bowling his off-spin by the ICC prior to the tournament.

Zimbabwean cricket, which has a long-drawn, bitter history of struggling with the ‘black vs. white’ dilemma, was once again dragged into another ugly race storm when former cricketer Prosper Utseya levelled allegations of racism against Alistair Campbell, the managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket, after the 2015 World Cup. Utseya, who was part of the World Cup squad, had not played a single match during the tournament. In an official letter to Zimbabwe Cricket, he accused Campbell of side-lining him from the team as well as appointing white coaches and administrators during his stint as chairman of the cricket committee. Whether Utseya’s exclusion had anything to do with racism remain debatable, but the issue went from bad to worse when another former Zimbabwean cricketer Mark Vermeulen responded to Utseya’s allegations. Vermeulen, who himself has had several run-ins with Zimbabwe Cricket, referred to black people as "apes" in a Facebook post. He also went on to write that black people wouldn't have any problems "if we had left them in the bush" and Utseya might be happier if he was living "in his mud hut". Following this racist tirade, Vermeulen was banned from all cricketing activities by Zimbabwe Cricket.