The UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper is facing calls to apologise over an article that described an Australian cricketer's inclusion in the Test match team as an "experiment with their Asian immigrant population".

The phrase was branded "disgusting" and "disgraceful" by some readers after it appeared online and in Tuesday's paper in an article by cricket correspondent Scyld Berry.

The online version of the article was later amended to remove the passage, which read in the paper: "Usman Khawaja will be roasted for the limp defensive prod that he aimed at Graeme Swann when Australia were 147 for one. He could well be replaced in the Oval Test by Phil Hughes and Australia's experiment with their Asian immigrant population will be shelved."

Khawaja, the Pakistan-born Australian batsman, moved to the country with his parents when he was a child.

Commenters on the Telegraph website were quick to complain about the phrase, but the backlash gained momentum overnight after it was picked up by online forums in Asia.

"Totally disgusting comment from Berry regarding Usman Khawaka. Which will no doubt be edited by the Telegraph editors," said one commenter on the Telegraph site. Another said: "That's a disgraceful comment about Khawaja."

Some Twitter users called on the Telegraph to apologise to the 26-year-old Australian batsman. "The UK Telegraph has edited the online version of @scyldberry's column to remove the remark about Usman Khawaja. But will they apologise?" asked Rick Eyre.

Melinda Farrell, a freelance sports journalist working for Australian TV network ABC, tweeted: "Appalled by report in the Telegraph in Eng re Usman Khawaja re 'Australia's experiment with their Asian immigrant population'. IRRELEVANT!"

The phrase surprised some in the cricket community, who believed it to be an unfortunate attempt by Berry, a well-regarded cricket correspondent, to make a wider point about the lack of diversity in Australian Test cricket.

Berry later explained that his phrase was used "without any intent to disparage" the cricketer, "but as an attempt to portray the unique position in which he finds himself as the first Muslim to represent Australia – and, broadly speaking, the first non-white since Sam Morris in the 19th century".

He wrote in an article on the Telegraph website that he applauded "both the sentiments and the strength of those feelings" of the commenters who believed the passage to be racist.

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