West Indian cricket and broadcasting icon Michael Holding has blasted the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to charge Australian opener Usman Khawaja for wearing a black armband during the Perth Test against Pakistan.
Khawaja has been told by the ICC to keep his humanitarian appeal for the people of Palestine away from the cricket field. He was officially warned for wearing a black armband during the first Test between Australia and Pakistan in Perth.
He wanted to sport a black dove on his shoe and bat in the upcoming Boxing Day Test but even that was rejected by the ICC, and Holding says he is not “surprised” by their stance of “hypocrisy”.
“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes,” Holding explained.
“So how the f*** people were allowed to take a knee for BLM (Black Lives Matter), and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colors?” Holding questioned while speaking to The Weekend Australian.
Holding argued that the ICC has not made their stance clear.
“If it would have been some other organisation with a consistent track record, I would have been surprised, but not the ICC,” he declared.
The fast-bowling legend accused the ICC of being “hypocrite” and have shown again that “they lack spine as a governing body”.
Like Holding, other observers believe that by banning Khawaja’s move, as well as his subsequent request to adorn his bat with the peace symbol of a dove holding an olive branch, the ICC has inadvertently boosted his message, while revealing its own hypocrisy. (Sportsmax).
