'They Show Their Hypocrisy And Lack Moral Standing': West Indies Legend Michael Holding Calls Out ICC To Support Usman Khawaja

West Indies cricket legend Michael Holding has called out the ICC over the hypocrisy of their decision to charge Usman Khawaja over his wearing of a black armband in the first Test against Pakistan.

Holding stated that he was disappointed with the ICC and labelled their response as a ” lack of moral standing as an organisation”.

Speaking to The Weekend Australian, Holding stated his despair over the cricketing organisation and said: “I have been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC’s stance.

“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.”

Holding then went on to point out the hypocrisy of the organisation over taking action for such displays of support, and the universal agreement over kneeling down to showcase support for “Black Lives Matter”.

Even in another display of support for the BLM movement, during the West Indies’ Test series against England in 2020, the touring players also donned shirts with ‘Black Lives Matter’ and a raised fist design on the collar.

“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes’,” said Holding. “So how the f*** people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours?”

Ahead of the second test against Pakistan, Khawaja also voiced out his side of things and questioned the consistency of the ICC in enforcing their regulations.

“They asked me on day two [in Perth] what it [the armband] was for and told them it was for a personal bereavement,” said Khawaja. “I never ever stated it was for anything else. The shoes were a different matter, I’m happy to say that. The armband makes no sense to me. I followed all the regulations, past precedents, guys that put stickers on their bats, names on their shoes, done all sorts of things in the past without ICC approval and never been reprimanded.

“I respect the ICC and the rules and regulations they have. I will be asking them and contesting they make it fair and equitable for everyone and they have consistency in how they officiate. That consistency hasn’t been done yet. I was very open and honest with that. I’ll deal with that with the ICC.”