Usman Khawaja has said he would happily accept the overturning of a lifetime ban for the England fan that abused him in the Long Room at Lord’s during the 2023 Ashes, providing the supporter shows remorse for their actions.
After a controversial morning session on the final day of the second Ashes Test of the 2023 series, Australia batters Khawaja and David Warner were subjected to a barrage of abuse by MCC members as they walked through the Long Room after heading off the field for lunch.
Video footage showed the pair stopping to confront MCC members after taking offence at the comments, with Khawaja later branding the scenes “pretty disrespectful” and saying he took exception to “some pretty big allegations”.
Security guards had to step between the Australian pair and the MCC members, before shepherding the players towards the dressing room but the vitriol continued continued to be hurled as they went up the stairs and the Australian press reported that some members of the team were even tripped on their way to the players’ dining room.
The MCC apologised for the incident and condemned the behaviour before launching an investigation that ended with three individuals being punished for varying degrees of “abusive, offensive or inappropriate behaviour or language”.
One member was expelled from the club, another was given a four-and-a-half-year suspension and the third was suspended for 30 months. The details of the individual offences and the names of those charged was not made public but the MCC admitted the incident fell “well below the behaviour expected” from members and also acknowledged that a wider group of members were guilty of breaching the club’s code of conduct.
But now, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the expulsion of the first member is subject to review and Khawaja has confirmed he would not challenge a more lenient penalty if the person in question has changed their ways.
“I’m a big believer in second chances, as long as you learn from your mistakes,” he told the paper. “If these guys have learned from their mistakes and they’re never going to spray players as they’re walking off the field 30 centimetres from their face, that’s fine.
“But there needs to be some sort of remorse and understanding shown and that’s for the MCC. I’m all for second chances, I’m not a guy that holds grudges, but I do think you need to learn from your mistakes and avoid doing them again.”
The barrage of Long Room abuse came after a session of play where England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow was controversially dismissed with England on 193-5, chasing a daunting target of 371, to fury of the Lord’s crowd.
Bairstow had ducked under a bouncer from Cameron Green, which went straight through to Alex Carey behind the stumps, and the England batter paused for a moment, tapped the crease and began to walk down to prod the pitch. At that point, Carey sent an under-arm throw in, leapt for joy as he hit the stumps and appealed.
There was confusion in the middle, Bairstow seemingly believing the ball was dead at the end of the over, but Australia were happy to proceed with a deeply divisive appeal and the furious Englishman was given out after a TV review. “Same old Aussies, always cheating” was chanted by the majority of Lord’s and the boos continued for the remainder of the session.
Despite emotions running high, the MCC did not excuse the behaviour in the long room and while Australia captain Pat Cummins was understandably unhappy with the treatment, he insisted he didn’t want the tradition of walking past MCC members when entering or leaving the Lord’s pitch to end.
“The crowd certainly made themselves known, in the Long Room and also out there,” Cummins said at the time, after Australia won the Test by 43 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
“I think they were just quite aggressive and abusive towards some of our players, which I know the MCC were not too happy with. Other than that one time, they were fantastic all week. The members here are normally fantastic, really welcoming. Something special about playing at Lord’s is you feel like you are at a really special place surrounded by people who have a love for the game. I quite like the tradition.
“I don’t think it hurts any more than normal. I think just standards that are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you expect from certain members of the crowd at Edgbaston.”
In the aftermath of the incident, MCC chair Bruce Carnegie-Brown set out a list of new protocols to be implemented immediately. These included expanding the roped-off area where players walk through as they make their way from the dressing room to the pitch and back again, while members are now prohibited from using the stairwell when the teams are coming on and off the field and must either wait at the ground or top floor level.
The first Ashes Test since the controversial 2023 series, which ended in a 2-2 draw, begins in Perth on 21 November with England trying to win the series outright for the first time since 2015.
