Usman Khawaja baffled at ICC reprimand over black armband for ‘personal bereavement’
Australian Test star Usman Khawaja has admitted to feeling puzzled by an ICC reprimand for wearing a black armband in the first Test against Pakistan, which he says was for a “personal bereavement”.
Khawaja was charged with breaching Clause F of the Clothing and Equipment Regulations on Thursday night, with the ICC claiming he’d worn the armband without seeing prior approval from both Cricket Australia and the governing body of the sport.
Despite the ICC’s statement, Khawaja suggested there was a different reason for why he’d copped the reprimand.
“For me personally, dealing with the ICC, I don’t think I’m being reprimanded for wearing a black armband,” he said on Friday.
“The ICC asked me on day two (of the Perth Test) what it’s for and I told them it was for a personal bereavement.
“I never ever stated it was for anything else. The shoes were a different matter, I’m happy to say that, but the armband made no sense to me.”
After doing so prior to the Perth Test last week, Khawaja once again called on the ICC to apply its rules and regulations fairly across the entire playing cohort.
“I followed all the regulations. The past precedents, guys that put stickers on their bats, names on their shoes, done all sorts of things in the past without ICC approval and never been reprimanded,” he said.
“I respect what the ICC and the rules and regulations have. I will be asking them and contesting that they make it fair and equitable for everyone and they have consistency in how they officiate, that’s all I ask for.
“From my point of view, that consistency hasn’t been done yet.
“I respect that there’s rules and procedures and regulations and guidelines. I don’t think that they’re always followed by the ICC to the tee, but I’m respecting them and I’m just trying to do things above board the right way so everyone is happy.
“There’s been plenty of people who have not had permission to wear stuff in the past.
“For me, I was very clear and open about the armband, which is what I’m getting reprimanded for. I’ll deal with that with the ICC and I’ll have those conversations with them.”
Khawaja said that he’d felt “100 per cent” supported by Cricket Australia and its CEO Nick Hockley throughout the entire ordeal.
Hockley said conversations were ongoing between CA and Khawaja in order to find a path forward.
“We’re very clear that the ICC has rules in place for very good reason and we expect our players to follow and comply with those regulations,” he said.
Hockley said Cricket Australia was working with the ICC to find a “respectful way” for Khawaja to “share his message” in a “unifying” manner.
“We’re really proud that we’ve got players that – as we’ve seen through this – are great leaders across the board.”
While he won’t wear an armband in the Boxing Day Test next week, Khawaja reiterated the powerful reason behind his decision to speak up.
“I’ve noticed a lot of people have different sorts of agendas. I don’t have any agendas other than trying to shine a light on what I feel really strongly about,” he said.
“I’m trying to do it in the most respectful way as possible. What I wrote on my shoes, I thought about it for a while what I was going to write. I made sure that I didn’t want to segregate different parts of the population … that’s why I’ve kept religion out of this. I wanted to be really broad and open-minded.
“I’m talking about humanitarian issues. I’m talking about article one in the Unified Declaration of Human Rights, that is literally the crux of it.
“The reason I’m doing it is because it hit me hard. When I’m looking at my Instagram and I’m seeing kids, innocent kids, videos of them dying, that’s what’s hit me the hardest. I just imagine my young daughter in my arms with the same thing. I get emotional talking about it right now. For me, that’s the reason I’m doing this.
“I don’t have any hidden agendas. If anything, this brings up more negativity towards me and people come out and start attacking me, I don’t get anything out of this. I just feel like it’s my responsibility to speak up on this.
“We live in such a beautiful country. I’m blessed to be in Australia, I can walk outside and I don’t have to worry about a thing, my kids can do the same. I just want that for the rest of the world.”
