Black History Month | Abi Sakande the Changemaker

Celebrating Cricket's Changemakers: Abi Sakande

This Black History Month (2024) we are celebrating changemakers in cricket. So who better to kick off the series than former Sussex and Leicestershire fast bowler Abi Sakande who has used his off-the-field roles as a former trustee of the Sussex Cricket Foundation and as a current PCA Inclusion champion to make a difference in the game.

Every journey into cricket is different, but there can’t have been too many to have ventured through Burkina Faso on the way to becoming a professional for both Sussex and Leicestershire.

But that is the route taken by Abidine Sakande thanks to his West African father and British mother, both academics, who knew little of the game that would provide him with a living for more than five years before he used his own academic prowess to join the Civil Service.

Even though Sakande is no longer playing professionally, he remains committed to the game following a stint as a trustee on the Sussex Cricket Foundation for three years, and now as a recreational player and a Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) Inclusion Champion.

And his connection to his father’s homeland also remains strong.

“I was born in Cheshire but we moved away because my dad was from Burkina Faso in West Africa,” Sakande says.

“So my first few years were in Burkina Faso and then in the Netherlands and then we came back to the UK in 2000 when I was six years old.

“Cricket is not really a major sport in Burkina Faso, it is just starting to become a sport but it is not well known, so I try to explain it to my family and say “Jou jou le cricket!” And they ask ‘what is this game?’”

Sakande could have felt daunted by trying to explain and encourage a whole new sport in a country where it remains in its infancy, but showing some of the qualities that he has already put to good use in the UK, he has embraced it.

He donated kit and carried out coaching sessions on his most recent trip to the country and that is in keeping with a character who is happy to get things done, with the support of others.

It was in the aftermath of the increased awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 that Sakande decided to get more actively involved in trying to make a difference in cricket and it worked, thanks to the allies he found at Sussex and the PCA.

“I would say, find allies early, because it's very difficult to be a changemaker on your own,” Sakande says. “I wouldn't have done any of the things that I've been able to do without that group of people around me who gave me that positive feedback.

“In that initial period in 2020 I was questioning Sussex and I was questioning the PCA and asking, what are you actually doing when you say that you have solidarity? What is behind these words? Have you actually got any programs in place? Have you looked at the population, demographic statistics? You say you care, but what's actually behind that? 

“And I was grateful that, in terms of Sussex, becoming a trustee, that was one way that I felt like I could help, use my voice and advocate for more inclusion and more programs to happen across the county, to increase the representation, increase the diversity, increase the pool, from which we can pick talented cricketers to come into the game.

“In terms of the PCA we created the equality, diversity and inclusion working group because it got the right stakeholders around the table. When I was advocating for change, there was a room full of people who could actually listen to what I was saying and take action and drive that program forward, which was a rewarding process for me.”

Sakande has taken his role further by actively helping to educate professional players on EDI issues and making sure that the old status quo is shifting in the right direction for the next generation coming into the game.

“It’s an honour to be named or have somebody identify me as being a changemaker,” he adds. “It requires somebody, somewhere, to kind of take the initiative, to say that, you know what? The status quo isn't suiting everyone, and we have a responsibility to do something about it.”

Sakande’s work has meant a much more fulsome picture for the game around EDI issues and has meant that players can feel much more open and more communicative in this area, leading to greater understanding.

But what about those who are perhaps feeling a little tired of the conversation and the push for more change?

Sakande says: “The pendulum swings and people become a bit kind of weary of inclusion discussions. EDI, blah, blah, blah. EDI, tiredness, change tiredness. People have been banging on about this for years now. Why are we still talking about this? 

“I think it's about kind of trying to shape the landscape so that it's not going to be undoing where we've got to. We're trying to make cricket as a game more inclusive. We're trying to make sure that, people are safe and they and they don't have the experience of discrimination, things that universally  everybody would agree about. That's always been the intention.”

Stay tuned for more inspirational stories throughout October and beyond as we continue our 'Celebrating Cricket's Changemakers' series. 

Words and creative by sports media consultant and journalist Dean Wilson