AN emotional Usman Khawaja has accused Queensland Cricket of spreading blatant mistruths about his injury claims, firing back at Joe Dawes and Test great Ian Healy.
Khawaja also admits he has had a “communication breakdown’’ with Queensland Bulls management and has not spoken to head of elite cricket Dawes for more than a month.
The nuclear fallout between Khawaja and Queensland Cricket kept sizzling as he spoke to the media at 9am before a training session at Allan Border Field.
Khawaja, who controversially missed the Bulls final match against South Australia, will have his suspect hamstring tested at training this morning before a decision is made on whether he plays next week’s final against South Australia in Adelaide.
With his eyes moistened by the mist of emotions stirring within, Khawaja, who was criticised by Dawes for missing the final match in an extraordinary outburst on Wednesday, delivered his side of the story of a hamstring injury Dawes claimed did not exist.
“Joe Dawes came out the other day and said a few inflammatory things, which is really disappointing to me as a player,’’ Khawaja said.
“More so for me, obviously, he talked about the medical stuff, which I was flabbergasted about, to be honest. The other bit about me not wanting to play for Queensland and there’s other blokes around (who do) was probably the most disheartening thing.
“I just felt like I had to speak up and at least give my side of the story. Joey said that the medical staff had no idea (of the hamstring). That is 100% wrong.
“I’ve talked to all both our physios. I was talking to the Australian physio the whole time. It’s on AMS, our athlete management system. My hammy is reported. Everything is there. “Everyone knew about it. That was probably one of the most shocking things I heard. It was really disappointing, because it’s categorically untrue.’’
Khawaja claimed when he arrived back from February’s Sri Lanka tour he was “sore’’ and managing a calf niggle from the first Test. He said he spoke to Australian selection chairman George Bailey who agreed Khawaja should take the final Sheffield Shield game off, a decision which caused outrage among Queensland cricket old boys and the management.
Dawes has not guaranteed Khawaja a place in the final but the Bulls management are hopelessly compromised given they remarkably gave coach Johan Botha a game off to compete in a masters fun run early in the season.
Khawaja also defended his decision to attend the Formula One in Melbourne when his team were playing the final Shield game.
