Michael Holding backs Usman’s blackarm band battle with cricket ‘hypocrites’

West Indian great ­Michael Holding has criticised cricket authorities over the ‘fiasco’ of banning Usman Khawaja’s human rights protest.

Usman Khawaja said he went to great lengths to keep religion out of the statements on his shoes and emphasised his despair at watching children being killed. Picture: Getty Images

West Indian great ­Michael Holding has criticised cricket authorities over the “fiasco” of banning Usman Khawaja’s human rights protest as the Australian batsman admits being sanctioned for wearing a black armband has left him ­frustrated.

Holding said authorities lacked any “moral standing”. The Australian revealed before the Perth Test that Khawaja planned to wear shoes with the words “All lives are equal” and “Freedom is a human right” written on them in response to ­humanitarian issues in Gaza.

He was told after the report was published that he couldn’t do as he wished, so wore a black armband instead, which has incurred the International Cricket Councils censure.

He says he plans to challenge that ruling, saying the armband was for a “personal bereavement” and that he had followed all regulations.

“I will be asking them and contesting (so) they make it fair and equitable for everyone and they have consistency in how they officiate,” he said on Friday.

His plan to wear the shoes at the MCG was also abandoned after meetings with Cricket Australia bosses, including chief executive Nick Hockley.

Khawaja said he went to great lengths to keep religion out of the statements on his shoes and emphasised his despair at watching children being killed.

“I don’t have any agendas other than trying to shine a light on what I feel really passionately, really strongly about. I’m trying to do it in the most respectful way possible,” he said.

“What I wrote on my shoes I thought about carefully. I made sure that I didn’t want to segregate different parts of the population, religious beliefs, communities. Hence why I’ve kept religion out of this. I want it to be really broad … because I am talking about humanitarian ­issues.

The shoes Usman Khawaja intended to wear. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“The reason I’m doing it is ­because it hit me hard. I told Nick (Hockley) this morning that when I’m looking at my Instagram and I’m seeing kids, innocent kids, videos of them dying, passing away, that’s what’s hit me the hardest. I just imagine my young daughter in my arms and the same thing. I get emotional talking about it. I don’t have any agendas. I don’t get anything out of this. I just feel it is my ­responsibility to speak up.”

He added: “I’m talking about article one of the Universal ­Declaration of Human Rights. That is literally the crux of it.”

Michael Holding. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Article one states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are ­endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Holding, one of the game’s great bowlers, found his voice during the Black Lives Matter protests. “I’ve been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC stance,” he told The Weekend Australian. “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..k people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours?”