Australia’s opener Usman Khawaja vowed to fight the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s mandate after being stopped from wearing shoes which displayed human rights messages.
Khawaja’s shoes sported the slogans “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal” at Australia’s training session on Tuesday. He has also said yesterday that he will wear the shoes during the first Test against Pakistan.
“The ICC have told me that I can’t wear my shoes on field, because they believe it’s a political statement under their guidelines. I don’t believe it is,” Khawaja said in a video on X.
“I will respect their view and decision but I will fight it and seek to gain approval,” he added.
Earlier today, Australia captain Pat Cummins confirmed that opener Khawaja will not wear his shoes emblazoned with slogans in support of Palestinians, amid the Gaza-Israel conflict, during the first Test against Pakistan which begins tomorrow in Perth.
“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 [Usman] 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.”
Khawaja could face sanctions from the International Cricket Council (ICC), which includes being banned from taking the field, reprimand for a first offence or a 75 per cent match-fee fine, for wearing the shoes.
Players and officials are not allowed to display messages on their clothing or equipment unless given the nod in advance by their board or the ICC.
Cricket Australia also issued 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.”