Craig Hutchison unfazed by Usman Khawaja’s interview boycott
SEN boss Craig Hutchison has expressed respect for Usman Khawaja’s decision to boycott interviews saying he won’t request interviews in the future.
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SEN boss Craig Hutchison says he’s not fazed by Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja’s stance to boycott interviews with the broadcaster.
The opening batsman declined to speak with the radio team ahead of play in the first Test against the West Indies in Bridgetown over the network’s sacking of veteran cricket journalist Peter Lalor.
“I don’t know (why), I didn’t see it happen,’’ Hutchison said on his The Sounding Board podcast.
“But he clearly didn’t speak to us, which is fine.
“That’s his prerogative. That’s his right. I’ve got a lot of respect for Usman.
“And if he doesn’t want to talk to us, he doesn’t have to. It doesn’t mean a thing really in terms of our ability to broadcast the cricket. So if he didn’t want to talk to us, I don’t know why.”
Hutchison, who was in Barbados with clients, said he assumed the reason was due to the dismissal of Lalor midway through the tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year over a series of tweets and retweets he had made about the Gaza war.
“I would assume that’s the right reason, but I don’t know why,’’ Hutchison continued.
“And that’s totally fine. As I mentioned in the past, access is neither here nor there in terms of your ability to broadcast or do your job.
“So if he doesn’t want to do interviews with us ongoing, which he looks like is the case, that’s totally fine. We respect that and we won’t ask that of him again.
“I’m not going to get into it again (about Lalor). There’s no point getting into it again. It obviously was a wider issue, which I explained at the time than the one that seemingly Usman’s interpreted.
“But that’s OK. There’s no point backing over it. I respect Usman.
“He’s been great for Australian cricket. He can have that view of us if he chooses. And we’ll respect it.
“We won’t interview him or ask that of him in the future.”
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Originally published as Craig Hutchison unfazed by Usman Khawaja’s interview boycott
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