‘Usman is a man of principle': Khawaja refuses SEN interview in solidarity with journalist
Moments after Australia's players came from the field following the opening day of their first Test against the West Indies in Bridgetown, Khawaja was scheduled to do a pre-record interview with SEN commentators Adam Collins and Bharat Sundaresan on the field at Kensington Oval.
Khawaja, who made 47 runs earlier in the day, told the pair he would not be doing the interview.
Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Khawaja's decision related to SEN's controversial axing of Lalor earlier this year, which the Test star views as unfair.
Lalor, a veteran cricket reporter, was removed from SEN's coverage midway through Australia's tour of Sri Lanka in February. The decision followed his social media activity around the conflict in Gaza, including reposts of news articles about Israeli airstrikes and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
SEN chief executive Craig Hutchison informed Lalor on the final morning of the Galle Test that his services were no longer required.
At the time, Khawaja publicly backed Lalor in a social media post.
'Standing up for the people of Gaza is not antisemitic nor does it have anything to do with my Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia, but everything to do with the Israeli government and their deplorable actions,' Khawaja posted on Instagram in February.
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Prue Nelson, Cremorne Point Postscript This has been a different sort of week on the Letters pages. After many weeks of politics, politicians and political parties, this week's most popular story was about finding a low-cost hobby, following a story by Shona Hendley. It turns out that letter writers have many hobbies they can recommend. The usual – reading, walking and running, volunteering and sewing – but also the more unusual, such as campanology, recording audiobooks, and geocaching, which, now that you ask, turns out to be a pastime that involves hiding something and putting the GPS co-ordinates online for treasure hunters. A number of writers also claimed that writing letters to the Herald is an excellent hobby, which, of course, we endorse. Of course, there was also a lot of politics – a week without politics is like a spring without sunshine around here. 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