After four Tests, Australia seem to cover almost all bases.
Be it batting, where David Warner and Steve Smith have scored runs for the team, the Marsh brothers have won matches single-handedly with their batting performance in Adelaide and Perth, and Tim Paine has played some breezy knocks to complement his fine wicketkeeping.
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have led the attack and bounced out opposition as expected in Australia. Nathan Lyon has been exceptional; even on the MCG pitch, where nothing aided the bowler, he managed to pick up the wickets of in-form English players.
Though Cameron Bancroft made his way into the Australian top on the back of a brilliant 215, he is yet to replicate the same performance in international cricket. But just four games old, he will take time to learn the trade and tricks to surviving.
Back in 2015, after scoring heaps of runs in India while touring with Australia A, Usman Khawaja scored close to 1349 runs in 14 Tests at an average of 64 which included centuries against New Zealand at home and away, 100 in a day-night game against strong bowling up South Africa as well as a 97.
But for the Indian Tests, he was dropped from the playing XI after failing in warm-ups. That, according to selectors, showed he just wasn’t good enough to play on the subcontinent. His returns in first two matches against Sri Lanka were no doubt poor, where he just managed 55 runs in four innings and was subsequently a casualty of the disastrous performance along with Joe Burns.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
The selectors’ view, in all likelihood, was slightly off. David Warner, for example, hadn’t set the world on fire in subcontinental tours before his twin centuries in Bangladesh which came after tours of UAE, Sri Lanka, and India.
Ricky Ponting averaged 21 in his first tour of India in 1998 before having his poorest return in the 2000-01 tour, where he could only make 11 runs in three Tests at an average of 3.4 before getting his first century in 2008 at Mohali, and had his best tour in 2010 where he scored three consecutive 70s.
And to just take a leaf from the opposition’s book, Alastair Cook is the best example. After his 243 against the West Indies, he didn’t score a 50 for his next ten innings before making 244* at MCG.
Clearly, selectors should know the talent of players and back them in the precarious situations in their career. Usman Khawaja needs such backing from the selectors. Shaun Marsh has got umpteen chances but still, knowing his class, the selectors have persisted with him.
Khawaja is the man for the future. He is the one representing the country in the top four, which forms the backbone of the team. Phasing players out in certain conditions won’t help their players’ confidence.
Usman Khawaja’s body language has been under a lot of pressure from a former player, Shane Warne urging him to show bit more energy and intensity at the crease after his laborious 65-ball 17 on a flat track. Though he has played some part in the Ashes by scoring two half-centuries, Khawaja hasn’t been at his fluent best.
Mike Hussey rightly suggested they need to back him in all conditions no matter what. Surely Usman too wants to excel in conditions alien to ones he has been brought up.
At Sydney, he will have the chance to make critics eat their own words. But more than that, just some encouraging words from selectors telling him to go out play his natural game and not worry about the ticket to South Africa will do him a world of good.
No doubt he has felt snubbed by selectors, after spendinh the majority of 2017 on the bench.He should be on the tour to South Africa no matter what, he has all the talent in the world. His mindset is what he needs to conquer, the technique will take care of itself.
Khawaja certainly has shown the strength to rise above all odds throughout his stop-and-start career. His record, which is still improving, is good enough to guarantee his place in the team at No.3. 1890 runs at an average of 42.98 is a good record for a career as young as Usman’s.
His character can be seen from the fact in the last day-night Test against South Africa at Adelaide, when Faf Du Plessis declared at nine wickets down in the first innings upon overhearing David Warner could not open, Usman took up the challenge and opened for the tricky period of ten overs in most Testing conditions against the pink ball and scored a hundred the following day.
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