Fawad Ahmed's brave stance maintains team harmony
Malcolm Knox, in the Sydney Morning Herald, and Joe Gorman, in the Guardian offer their views on the controversy regarding Fawad Ahmed's decision to not sport a sponsor logo on his Australia shirt
Whenever sports try to insulate themselves from change, they self-destruct. So let's imagine that a national symbol, such as the gold shirt Ahmed wears as an Australian one-day cricketer, does not impose a national character. Let's imagine that it's the wearer who changes the character of the shirt. In Ahmed's personal history, is there not the courage and durability we associate with a Hewitt (or a Dawn Fraser, a Herb Elliott, a Dennis Lillee, take your pick)? In his refusal to wear a VB logo, is there not something of that wilfulness that we like to call ''Australian''? In choosing to be here, rather than being born here, has he not already proved something?