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Opinion
Imagine a youngster born in Australia moved to Pakistan when he was four.
Let’s call him Dale Kerrigan, for the sake of the exercise, who comes from a long line of Kerrigans who decided to hop over the back fence of their castle to the airport and fly to another country in search of a better life.
And young Dale turns out to be a gun cricketer who elects to represent his adopted nation of Pakistan and returns to Australia to face the baggy green brigade in Test cricket, smashing them for hundreds with ease.
What kind of reception do you think he would get?
The sad fact is many Australian cricket fans would boo, berate and condemn someone for being disloyal, turning their back on their nation of birth.
Australian cricket fans can learn a lot from Pakistan’s treatment of Usman Khawaja in the Benaud-Qadir Trophy series.
Khawaja, who moved to Sydney when his family emigrated before he’d started kindergarten, is being warmly embraced by cricket fans, indeed the entire nation, since he arrived in Pakistan a month ago for the historic first Australian tour since 1998.
He has been adored by the locals, who have chanted his name, held up signs to show their support and been the models of hospitality despite Khawaja proving to be a constant thorn in their side throughout the series.
After Khawaja followed up his first-innings 97 with 104 not out in the second dig of the third Test at Lahore, his lifted his series aggregate to 496 at an astonishing average of 165.33.
When he scored his other ton in Karachi, the 35-year-old opener said the fans had made the moment one he would never forget, particularly given his family ties to the city.
“I was born in Islamabad but my family is all from Karachi so this one meant a lot,” he said, before adding about the fans: “I love it because you can tell they want Pakistan to win, even when I get out they’re cheering, you can tell they’re diehard Pakistani supporters, but they’re very supportive of me. It’s very nice.”
After his ton in Lahore, he said his purple patch of form in his homeland was something he would cherish.
“We weren’t sure whether we would be able to come to Pakistan at some stage, but now we have and it’s been a really good series,” Khawaja said. “It’s been fun, but you never expect these things.”
When it comes to players who could have represented Australia in cricket but opted to play elsewhere, there is a not-so-proud history of calling them traitors, abusing them for having the temerity to choose an alternative.
Martin McCague was born in Belfast but when his family fled to Australia due to the conflict in Northern Ireland, he developed into a handy cricketer for Western Australia. He was able to secure a lucrative English county contract without counting on the import quota due to his birth certificate and was selected to play for England.
It just so happened it was in the middle of Australia’s 1993 Ashes tour and he was labelled “the rat who joined the sinking ship” in a screaming headline by one Sydney tabloid newspaper.
Martin McCague is congratulated after dismissing Mark Taylor during the 1993 Ashes. (Photo by Graham Chadwick/EMPICS via Getty Images)
Adam and Ben Hollioake were born in Melbourne but also represented England after their family moved there when they were schoolboys and they also had their credentials questioned by the Australian media.
Like McCague, left-armer Alan Mullally was another fast bowler who grew up in WA but played for England, where he was born in the 1990s, and copped abuse from fans when he toured Down Under.
There have been several other examples in the rugby codes and other sports of players being lambasted for not choosing to represent Australia.
Surely it is not too simplistic to say isn’t it their choice, not anyone else’s, as to which nation they represent.
Perhaps times have changed now and the next time a cricketer or any other sportsperson who has dual eligibility tours Australia will not cop abuse from the outer or an even more faceless kind, from social media.
But it’s worth tipping your cap to the Pakistani fans for the way they have saluted Khawaja’s return even though he has been the biggest obstacle to their team beating Australia.