Australia v West Indies: Opposing skippers refuse to confirm or deny whether protest will occur before Test

Both the West Indies and Australia took a knee before their series games last summer, but will it happen again? It seems both sides are playing coy on the matter.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite refused to be drawn on whether his side would take a knee to support the Black Lives Matter movement during the Frank Worrell Trophy series as it has done routinely in recent years.

The Windies have regularly taken a knee since the death of George Floyd in 2020, with several of their opponents joining them in doing so when playing against the Windies.

Australia joined the Windies in the gesture during a white-ball tour in 2021 while the teams did so again last summer when the Windies toured for a two-Test series.

Taking a knee has been a consistent endeavour for the Windies. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

However asked if the teams would take a knee during this month’s series, Brathwaite was coy.

“I won’t comment on that right now,” Brathwaite said at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday, the day before the start of the first Test.

His Australian counterpart Pat Cummins later said that he wasn’t sure whether the practice would be continued this time around.

“Haven’t heard. Might chat to Kraigg but yeah, not sure,” Cummins said.

The act of taking a knee in international cricket came tangentially into focus last month after Australian opener Usman Khawaja was barred from wearing humanitarian slogans, a reference to the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, on his clothes and gear during the Test series against Pakistan.

Australia joined their opponents in the 2023 series. (Photo by Sarah Reed – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

West Indian great Michael Holding told The Australian last month that he believed the ICC’s decision to allow the knee gesture and not Khawaja’s stance was a double standard.

“I have been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC’s stance,” Holding said.

“If it had been most other organisations that showed some semblance of consistency with their attitude and behaviour on issues I could claim surprise, but not them.

“Once again, they show their hypocrisy and lack of moral standing as an organisation.

“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes’.

“So how the f*** people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours?”

I've team up with @electric_wicky to bring you the Uzzy "Freedom and Equality" T shirts. All profits will be donated to the 'Unicef Children of Gaza' appeal 🍉. For those who can, please purchase to help support those who are struggling and spread the word! Link in my Bio! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/h2HOtZ7f1p

— Usman Khawaja (@Uz_Khawaja) January 16, 2024

Having had several attempts to mark the situation in Gaza knocked back by the ICC, Khawaja was given the green light by Cricket Australia to don a sticker of a dove with an olive branch as well as a reference to Article 1 on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on his gear.

Khawaja on Tuesday announced that he would be raising money for children in Gaza by selling t-shirts with pictures of the shoes he donned in the nets on which human rights messages were emblazoned.

Brathwaite confirmed that all-rounders Kavem Hodge and Justin Greaves would make their Test debuts this week, as would paceman Shamar Joseph.

Originally published as Australia v West Indies: Opposing skippers refuse to confirm or deny whether protest will occur before Test