Usman Khawaja, the Aussie opener, is in hot water because he might have faked an injury to go to the F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne. Word is, he skipped Queensland’s cricket match because of a supposed hamstring problem, but then he was spotted at the Grand Prix. But Queensland’s Head of Elite Cricket, Joe Dawes, says Khawaja wasn’t actually injured. Dawes was also bummed that Khawaja didn’t play in the match against South Australia from March 15-18.
Dawes told News Corp, Our medical people said he was good to go the whole time. That’s what I heard from Cricket Australia staff, too. No hamstring issues as far as we knew. I rely on our medical staff, and they saw no reason he couldn’t have played the last game. It’s just a shame he didn’t play for Queensland when he could have. We have guys here who want to play, and we’re sad he missed the South Australia game. He made his choice and told everyone why. Hopefully, he’ll decide to play next week, and we’ll decide on Friday if he will.
Ian Healy, Queensland Cricket Deputy Chair, said he talked to Cricket Australia about it.
Healy told SENQ, I’m glad I didn’t see him at the F1. Cricket Australia should feel some heat here. I talked to them, and they didn’t know Queensland was worried about him not playing for us. They wished we had called them sooner.
Queensland’s game against South Australia was a draw, and they still got to the final. They’ll play South Australia again in the final, starting March 26.
