Cricket - Ashes - Fifth Test - England v Australia - The Oval, London, Britain - July 31, 2023 Australia's Usman Khawaja walks after losing his wicket, lbw bowled by England's Chris Woakes Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Usman Khawaja has slammed Queensland Cricket boss Joe Dawes for accusing the Australia test opener of making himself unavailable for selection for Sheffield Shield cricket.
Dawes told a press conference on Wednesday that there was no reason Khawaja could not have played in Queensland's final regular season match against South Australia which finished on Tuesday.
Khawaja, who has played 80 tests for Australia, spent the weekend in Melbourne at the Formula One Australian Grand Prix while his Shield teammates secured Queensland's place in next week's final with a draw.
Khawaja told a press conference on Friday that he had been managing a hamstring strain and had logged the injury in an app used by Australia's professional cricketers.
"Joe Dawes came out the other day and said a few inflammatory things, which is really disappointing to me as a player," said Khawaja.
"After that, I felt like I had to speak up and at least give my side of the story.
"My hammy (hamstring) is reported, everything is there, everyone knew about it.
"Joey said the medical staff had no idea: that is 100% wrong.
"I was talking to the Australian (team) physio the whole time."
Queensland play South Australia in the final in Adelaide from Wednesday.
Khawaja said he was not expecting an apology from Dawes and would bear no grudges over the matter.
"I'm in the middle of Ramadan right now," said the Pakistan-born 38-year-old.
"Islam's very important to me. One of the things always is mending bridges.
"I'm never the kind of guy to hold grudges and to kick people out of my life, and I would never do that to anyone in Queensland Cricket."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
