Thursday 27 July 2017 13:02, UK
England's players have rallied behind Sky Ocean Rescue's bid to end plastic pollution, ahead of the third Test against South Africa.
Skipper Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad are among those who are backing the initiative, which aims to raise awareness about ocean health.
The Kia Oval, celebrating its 100th Test this week, aspires to become a plastic-free venue and with the help of Sky Ocean Rescue hopes to inspire fans to make simple changes to their lifestyle to help protect the environment.
"By the time I bowl an over, four truckloads of plastic goes into the ocean," Broad told Sky Ocean Rescue. "So we need to find a way to stop that.
"They're giving out 20,000 water bottles for fans to be able to go around the ground and refill their bottles. Trying to reduce wastage - instead of going to the bar and buying a water bottle and just throwing it away. Look, it's little changes at the moment but eventually that will be a big change.
"We do have to protect the environment a lot. Look, it's a very simple way of doing it, isn't it? You're getting a water bottle and refilling it and that's something I'm certainly backing today.
"By 2050 there's a chance that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, which is really scary for our world, isn't it?
"It's one of those things that we need to start making a change now and this is an amazing initiative. Sports grounds do waste a lot of plastic and as something for the Kia Oval to be able to get involved with is wonderful."
Root urged fans to get behind the initiative, saying: "When the fans turn up at the ground there will be issued with a free water bottle and that's a great opportunity to get to the taps and the water fountains around the ground to fill up and make sure there aren't bottles left in the ocean."
Moeen Ali added: "The oceans need saving and hopefully we're taking a big step towards doing that."
Earlier this month Sky's Tom Rayner travelled to the Cocos Islands to help explain the dire impact that the estimated five trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans are having on the planet. You can watch his findings here.
Jeremy Darroch, Sky CEO, insists that the dire health of our oceans is an issue that "needs to be urgently addressed".
He said: "At Sky, we want to use our voice and the potential of our reach to inspire people to take action to protect our planet by bringing to life our amazing ocean for millions of people across Europe, and discussing the solutions.
"We're delighted to be working with the Kia Oval on an issue which sits at the heart of our Sky Ocean Rescue campaign and support them on their journey to becoming a plastic free venue.
"This is also a great opportunity to drive home the issues with sports fans and underline the actions that can easily be undertaken to reduce our impact on the ocean."
Watch the third Test between England and South Africa - brought to you in association with Sky Ocean Rescue - live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Thursday.
