Khawaja Alleges Racist Abuse at Lord's, and MCC Sanctions Three Members
Usman Khawaja says a Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) member racially abused him during the 2023 Ashes Test at Lord's. He makes the allegation in his newly released autobiography. The MCC, which runs the London ground, has since expelled one member and suspended two others over the incident.
The incident came during the second Test. It followed England's Jonny Bairstow being stumped by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey. A stumping is when the wicketkeeper removes the bails while the batter is out of his crease, and it ended Bairstow's innings. Television footage from the time showed Khawaja and David Warner involved in clashes with spectators as Australia walked off for lunch.
The MCC found that three of its members had used abusive, offensive or inappropriate behaviour or language. One member was given a four-and-a-half-year suspension and another a 30-month suspension. A third member was expelled. Khawaja has described the group as behaving like a pack of dogs.
The book also contains a second claim that will draw attention. Khawaja writes that the entire Australia team knew about the use of sandpaper to tamper with the ball in the final Test of the 2018 series against South Africa. Tampering means altering the ball's surface to help bowlers swing it, and it breaks the laws of the game. These are Khawaja's words in the book, and the claim concerns the knowledge of a whole squad rather than one individual.
Khawaja retired from international cricket in January. Across 88 Tests for Australia, he scored 6,229 runs. A Test is a match played over up to five days, and that length makes Khawaja's career record a long one. He was a left-handed opener and later batted in the middle order, a role that required patience against new balls and spin alike.
For fans, the story now has two strands. One is an account of abuse at a famous ground, and the sanctions that followed. The other is a player's own account of events from his career, set down in print for the first time. The MCC's disciplinary findings and suspensions are the outcome of the Lord's incident.
