'If you play for England, we will shoot you': Former pacer Phil DeFreitas on the racist death threats he received

Former England pacer Phil DeFreitas has shockingly revealed that he was subject to racist death threats when he was active for the national side.

Speaking on the Sky Cricket podcast, Phil DeFreitas touched upon the widely-discussed subject of racism and said that he received these death threats from the National Front, a far-right political party in the UK.

"I received hate letters from the National Front - it's not only once, I received that two or three times, saying 'If you play for England, we will shoot you.'

"I had police looking after my house. I had a sponsored car with my name on it and I had to remove that. So can you imagine me driving down to London? I'm in a hotel two days before a Test match at Lord's and I'm thinking 'do I play or don't I? Am I going to have a sniper?'" said Phil DeFreitas.

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Understandably, in the midst of these frightening episodes, the fast bowler struggled to perform at a high level. DeFreitas stated that considering all that he has been through, he is proud of what he achieved in the game of cricket.

"How can I focus on playing cricket for England with all that but, with my determination, I would not allow those people to beat me ever. I had no help, I had no support. I had to deal with that all on my own, it hurts quite a lot. I remember going home to my mum and saying 'I don't feel like I belong there'. But I'm proud of what I achieved," he added.

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Phil DeFreitas on what kept him going

Phil DeFreitas

The 54-year-old also spoke about his motivation to keep representing his country despite the abuse he was constantly on the receiving end of.

"There was that feeling where you felt you were just on your own all the time. People used to say 'why don't you get involved', 'why don't you be more with the team'. You felt lonely, you felt all on your own. It was really tough," said Phil DeFreitas.

He also said that the presence of other players of colour in the England team helped him, although only slightly.

"To have Gladstone Small and Chris Lewis playing for England was fantastic - it made you feel a bit better, but never secure. I never felt welcome; I always felt like every game was my last game. I was desperate to play for England and that kept me going," he added.

In a career spanning 11 years, Phil DeFreitas played 44 Tests and 103 ODIs for England, picking up 140 and 115 wickets respectively. He was a handy lower-order batsman, and interestingly, he owns the distinction of being the 100th player to take 100 wickets in the longest format of the game.