- Australia’s Usman Khawaja will not wear pro-Palestine shoes.
- Khawaja faces potential penalties like a ban or fine.
- ICC rules prohibit personal messages on uniforms.
In light of the Gaza-Israel crisis, Australia’s captain Pat Cummins said on Wednesday that first-choice player Usman Khawaja will not wear shoes with pro-Palestinian slogans during the first Test match against Pakistan, which gets underway in Perth tomorrow.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) may impose penalties on Khawaja for wearing the shoes, which may include a ban from the field, a warning for a first offense, or a fine equal to 75% of the cost of the match.
During Australia’s training session on Tuesday, Khawaja wore sneakers with the inscriptions “All lives are equal” and “Freedom is a human right.” Additionally, he declared yesterday that he would wear the sneakers in the opening Test matchup with Pakistan.
Unless their board or the ICC has approved it beforehand, players and officials are not permitted to post messages on their uniforms or other gear.
“Any clothing or equipment that does not comply with these regulations is strictly prohibited,” the ICC 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.”
At his pre-game press conference, Cummins did, however, state that Khawaja was most likely not aware of the relevant ICC rules. He did concede, though, that the statement regarding left-handed shoes was not offensive.
“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.”
Earlier on Wednesday, 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.”
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