Within the Australian team,Marnus Labuschagne sports a Bible verse on the back of his bat,while both the West Indies and England teams have worn a “Black Lives Matter” slogan on the collars of their shirts in recent times.
These instances may be a surprise to the former players – including Simon O’Donnell and Greg Ritchie – who on Wednesday asserted that Khawaja had no right to carry personal messages onto the field of play.
International Cricket Council clothing regulations empower the match referee,in this case India’s Javagal Srinath,to prevent a player taking part in a match if they are wearing an item of clothing sporting a logo or wording that is “non-compliant”.
“Any clothing or equipment that does not comply with these regulations is strictly prohibited,” the regulations state. “In particular,no logo shall be permitted to be displayed on cricket clothing or cricket equipment,other than a national logo,a commercial logo,an event logo,a manufacturer’s
logo,a player’s bat logo,a charity logo or a non-commercial logo as provided in these regulations.
“In addition,where any match official becomes aware of any clothing or equipment that does not comply with these regulations,he shall be authorised to prevent the offending person from taking the field of play (or to order them from the field of play,if appropriate) until the non-compliant clothing or equipment is removed or appropriately covered up.”
But that regulation can be waived if the ICC approves Khawaja’s request. Cricket Australia released a statement backing up the ICC regulations:“We support the right of our players to express personal opinions. But the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold.”
Khawaja wore the shoes sporting the slogans “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal” at Australia’s main training session on Tuesday,and initially confirmed to this masthead he intended to wear them on Thursday;day one of the first Test against Pakistan.
Captain Pat Cummins confirmed at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday that Khawaja would not wear the shoes during the Test match,but was supportive of all players’ rights to express their views. Khawaja is set to be interviewed by broadcasters Foxtel and Seven on day one of the Test.
“I think it is one of our strongest points as a team that everyone has their own passionate views and individual thoughts,” Cummins said. “I chatted to Uzzy briefly about it today,and yeah,I don’t think his intention is to make too much of a fuss,but we support him.
“[The ICC] drew attention to the ICC rules,which I don’t know if Uzzy was across beforehand. Uzzy doesn’t want to make too big a fuss. On his shoes he had ‘all lives are equal’[written on them],I think that’s not very divisive,I don’t think anyone could really have too many complaints about that.”
Messages for political causes “shall not be granted”,the ICC’s regulations say,but the governing body also acknowledges the game’s capacity to “bring people and communities around the world together”,but “not as a platform to draw attention to potentially divisive political issues,rhetoric or agendas”.
Additionally,if Khawaja did happen to walk out to bat or field on Thursday while wearing the shoes,it was possible he’d face a series of sanctions,ranging from a reprimand for a first offence to a 75 per cent match-fee fine. Cummins said that the topic was not raised in his regular pre-series meeting with Srinath on Wednesday.
Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells backed Khawaja on Wednesday,saying he had expressed his “respectful” view as an individual and in a manner that did not compromise the Australian cricket team’s obligations to the International Cricket Council.
“As the federal sports minister,I have always advocated for athletes to have the right to have a voice and to speak up on matters that are important to them,” she said at a press conference in Perth on Wednesday morning.
“Usman Khawaja is a great athlete. Usman Khawaja is a great Australian,and he has every right to speak up on matters that are important to him.
“I think he has done it in a peaceful and respectful way,and as a way that he as an individual can express an individual opinion that doesn’t compromise the Australian cricket team’s obligations to the ICC.”
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Players were permitted to take a knee supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and,more commonly,to wear a black armband to acknowledge the death of a former player,official or someone close to the team.
A proud Muslim,Khawaja has been deeply affected by the distressing scenesout of Gazasince Israel retaliated to the Hamas attacks on October 7. He took to Instagram on Saturday to post his concerns on the war.
“Do people not care about innocent humans being killed? Or is it the colour of their skin that makes them less important? Or the religion they practice? These things should be irrelevant if you truly believe that ‘we are all equal’. #gaza #humanity #equality #alllivesmatter,” Khawaja wrote.