Hopes: Khawaja will be back

Queensland captain James Hopes is confident Australian selectors won’t discard dropped batsman Usman Khawaja.

After two years battling to regain his place in the Test side, Khawaja lasted just three matches before being punted for the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval.

Hopes believes international and domestic one-day form will be paramount in deciding the vacant No.6 position in the Australian Test batting line-up, with the Bulls allrounder spruiking the merits of Khawaja and ODI skipper George Bailey.

Batsmen will only have a limited amount of time to impress in first-class cricket before the first return Ashes Test starts in Brisbane on November 21, and national selectors have stated that shorter-form cricket will be taken into consideration.

Khawaja would appear to have dropped down the queue in Australian reckoning, but he has scored two half centuries from his first three Ryobi Cup outings.

Hopes says he’s a player who can’t be written off.

“He had a tough go of it over there but coming to the home Ashes (there’s a) clean slate,” Hopes said.

“If he jumps out of the gate in these next few games and the first few Shield games and scores runs I’m sure he’s going to be heavily considered.

“He’s a very good player of fast bowling and a good player of the short ball so if his name isn’t there or there abouts I’d be surprised, especially if he has a good start to the season.”

Khawaja’s attitude and toughness has been questioned in the past, but Hopes says even before the left-hander arrived in Queensland, he was regarded as a player capable of conquering difficult situations.

“And now he’s part of our set-up and we see him training and see how good he is close up. I think he’s the kind of character that can be successful at Test level,” Hopes said.

“He was a bit quiet when he first got back which is understandable. I think we all know the tour didn’t go as planned for him.

“But he’s batting very, very well again.”
Hopes is a veteran of 84 ODIs for Australia and will on Thursday become just the second Queenslander to play 100 domestic 50-over matches when the Bulls take on NSW at North Sydney Oval.

The relevance of white ball runs for Test cricket is a matter of conjecture, but Hopes is of the opinion it can be a reliable form guide and stand-in ODI captain Bailey could be the beneficiary.

“(Bailey’s) got a lot of respect from us. He’s an outstanding captain,” the allrounder said.

“I don’t think it’s surprised any of the players in Australia how well he’s done since he’s started playing for Australia.”