West Indian cricket and broadcasting icon Michael Holding has blasted the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to charge Australian opener Usman Khawaja for wearing a black armband during the Perth Test against Pakistan.

Khawaja has been told by the ICC to keep his humanitarian appeal for the people of Palestine away from the cricket field. He was officially warned for wearing a black armband during the first Test between Australia and Pakistan in Perth.

He wanted to sport a black dove on his shoe and bat in the upcoming Boxing Day Test but even that was rejected by the ICC, and Holding says he is not “surprised” by their stance of “hypocrisy”.

“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes,” Holding explained.

“So how the f*** people were allowed to take a knee for BLM (Black Lives Matter), and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colors?” Holding questioned while speaking to The Weekend Australian.

Holding argued that the ICC has not made their stance clear.

“If it would have been some other organisation with a consistent track record, I would have been surprised, but not the ICC," he declared.

The fast-bowling legend accused the ICC of being “hypocrite” and have shown again that “they lack spine as a governing body”.

Like Holding, other observers believe that by banning Khawaja's move, as well as his subsequent request to adorn his bat with the peace symbol of a dove holding an olive branch, the ICC has inadvertently boosted his message, while revealing its own hypocrisy.

Jamaican superstar Jhaniele Fowler was at her dominant best to help the West Coast Fever win a dramatic rematch of the 2022 Suncorp Super Netball League grand finale over the Melbourne Vixens at the RAC Arena in Perth on Saturday.

The end of the first quarter saw the Fever enjoy a 17-12 lead before the Vixens won the second by one to reduce the halftime deficit to four, with the Fever leading 32-28.

The third quarter saw the Vixens chip into the lead a little more to set up a tense fourth quarter with the score now being 48-46 in favour of the Fever.

The teams fought to the end in the final stanza, with the Fever eventually coming out 62-61 winners.

Fowler, who has won the league’s player of the year award for the past five seasons, shot a perfect 55/55 to lead the Fever to a win to kick off the defence of their 2022 title.

Elsewhere, Shimona Nelson scored 53 goals from as many attempts to lead the Collingwood Magpies to a 71-63 win over the New South Wales Swifts, for whom Romelda Aiken-George scored 30 goals from 35 attempts.

Jamaican UFC Welterweight Randy “Rude Boy” Brown is brimming with confidence ahead of his upcoming fight with Australian prospect Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 284 in Perth on Saturday.

Brown enters the fight with a record of 16-4 and has won his last four bouts while Della Maddalena is 13-2 and currently on a 13-fight win streak. The 26-year-old Aussie has won all three of his UFC contests by knockout and Brown is wary of the challenge ahead.

“He’s young and dangerous,” said the 32-year-old.

“He’s a killer. I actually have a ton of respect for him and I’m a fan of his fight style but I know he has a long way to go,” Brown added.

A veteran of 14 UFC fights compared to three for Della Maddalena, Brown expects this advantage in experience to show up when the cage doors are locked on Saturday.

“I’ve been here and I’ve been doing this and he’s got a lot to learn so now’s the time to catch him early. He’s been using the term masterclass so I’m going to show him what it really means,” Brown said.

The bout will open the main card of the Pay-per-view which will be headlined by a Lightweight Championship fight between current Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski and defending Lightweight Champion Islam Makachev.