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Australian opener Usman Khawaja on Day 3 of the Wellington Test against New Zealand was forced to remove the dove logo sticker from his bat. In the first session, Khawaja had to ask for another bat after cracking the bat he was playing with. However, the replacement bat had the dove sticker on it which is not allowed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The incident took place in the 19th over of Australia's second innings. Substitute Matt Renshaw rushed to the ground after Khawaja signalled for a bat change. Renshaw brought a few options. After taking his pick, he had to remove the dove logo off his bat.
Khawaja’s tussle with ICC
Last year, Khawaja had opposed ICC after his request to sport a dove logo on his bat was rejected. He posted on social media accusing the ICC of double standards. He had also written ‘All lives are equal’ on his shoes in support of Palestinians which wasn’t allowed on the field as well by the apex cricket board.
However, he was backed by Cricket Australia chief executive and Australia captain Pat Cummins.
“The symbol of the dove is an universally recognised symbol of peace," Hockley said. “That being said, the ICC have got their rules and think they explained their rationale really clearly and we respect that. What we’ve been really clear about is that we support Uzzie and all our players really to share what the what they believe over their own channels."
Khawaja fails to convert starts
Khawaja was batting on 18 when he had a change of bat. He was dismissed by Glenn Phillips in the 27th over of the innings. The southpaw danced down the track but the ball spun away from him and missed the bat. He had no chance of making it back to the crease. The 37-year-old stumped after scoring 28 runs from 69 balls. Phillips went on to take a five-wicket haul as Australia were bowled out for 164 and set a target of 369. In the first innings, he scored 33 runs from 118 balls before getting bowled by Matt Henry.
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