Former Sri Lankan cricketer Charith Senanayake has questioned the ICC policy of allowing England and West Indies cricketers going down on one knee to come in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign.

Before the commencement of the first Test match between England and West Indies at the Ages Bowl (Southampton) on Wednesday players from both teams and match officials united in a poignant gesture to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Speaking exclusively over telephone from Colombo, he asked: "How come going down on one knee at a game is not political when I was almost castigated for raising the National flag in support of players just to lift their sagging spirits up a few years back?"

The former opening batsman was a manager on England tour in 2016. The Sri Lanka team were asked to remove the national flag they had displayed on their balcony "to show support" for the side, after suffering an incorrect umpiring decision in the third Test.

"At the end of the play, I was asked whether the flag hosting was in support of any political move and to which I politely refused and said, the morale of our team was down after several umpire decisions went against our team. We wanted to back the players on the ground and show them the whole country is behind you and it was not allowed.”

For the record: the no ball rules were changed soon after the incident.

"Wonder what would have happened if a sub-continental team is playing. Perhaps, go down on both knees ....to say all lives matter ...Guess “Brown lives” don’t matter", the ex-manager sarcastically added.