Criticism of Khawaja is baffling

Khawaja should have stayed as opener for this World Cup but obviously he's going to receive (justified) criticism after averaging 19 with the bat in five games so far.

Quite simple, since he was hit in the had a few weeks ago he has been a shadow of himself. Everyone opposition now knows his weakness, pitch it short and it will rattle him. He has looked pretty timid this WC. Khawaja and SMarsh both had a good 2019 in the runs but they both look real ordinary when going for quick runs.

You left out the single most important ingredient in this discussion. Local conditions. I put my money on Shaun Marsh over Khawaja in England

A really good summary Jeff and I agree it probably comes down to who's the better fieldsman. Pity neither of them are a Maxwell, Smith or Warner in the field.

Sure. And therein lies the the problem. We should only be playing 5 batsman plus an allrounder at 6, so which one of our best 6 batsmen misses out?

Agree neither should bat 5 (which potentially translates to 6 or 7 late in the innings if pinch hitters - Maxwell/Carey/Stoinis/M Marsh are promoted). Smith is too valuable to waste below 4 and arguably he should play 3, so it has to come down to one or the other of UK or SM. I find it difficult to split them on batting, though would take SM against spinners such as our next game against Bangladesh. But on the issue of fielding, I'd take Marsh over Khawaja as it feels like there is maybe a 5-10 run or so difference there in favour of Marsh.

I am also baffled . He is in our top six batsman regardless of where he plays. To suggest otherwise is laughable to me.

If Khawaja isn’t opening, he’s not in the team for me. Should he be picked ahead of Finch or Warner? Probably not. Would the team benefit from Warner or finch dropping down the order to accommodate Khawaja at the top? Probably. I can’t see it happening given Warner’s century and Finch in ok nick and captaining. Therefore, bye Khawaja. Rule out Stoinis, who is absolutely garbage ????. Then the only decision is whether to play 5 bowlers or Mitch Marsh. My team is: Warner Finch Smith Marsh Maxwell M Marsh Carey Coulter Nile Cummins Starc Lyon NCN bowling has been up and down, but with Marsh there - gotta get 20 overs between Maxwell, Marsh and NCN depending on who is getting belted.

The only way M. Marsh can get near the team is if Stoinis is ruled out with injury and as far as I have heard Stoinis has been ruled out for the next 2 games. So until he is replaced, I believe Smith @ 3, S. Marsh @ 4 and Warner @ 5 is the best team batting setup we have to offer.

42 off 39 at 4, against India with their tails up 18 off 16 against Pakistan at 6 in the middle order, he has shown enough for mine to show he goes ok, early. how long can go for?

yes. he was australian U-19 captain.

Well said. The T20I analysis of Khawaja is flawed because it doesn't factor in that he begins every innings at the top when the field is up and the ball is hard. He has done absolutely nothing over his career to suggest that he can accumulate runs at a decent pace batting in the middle order. Khawaja has three issues that make the middle order unattractive: 1. He is poor against spin 2. He is poor between the wickets 3. He relies on timing, not power When people say that Khawaja shouldn't be in the side if he's not in the top 3, they are 100% correct. The thing is, he should still be opening. Finch and Warner are good against spin, they are both more powerful hitters and Warner in particular is lightning between the wickets. Either of them could comfortably bat 4-5.

Simple answer - join the movement.. Khawaja @ opener. He and Finch worked well, no need to change it. In fact, Warner would be just as effective if not better at #3 or 4, he is one of the best in the world at managing either a watchful build or aggressive slog. One of the best to take advantage of weaker bowlers and play according to the needs of the game. Finch, of all people, given his experience struggling in the wrong position in the test team should recognise Khawaja's dilemma and assert some authority.

He was hit on the helmet. Not in the head.

I really dislike the situation Khawaja is in. As a fan of him as a batsman, its lousy. Dumped to 3 because Warner *had to open* and Finch *had to open* ... i get it, Warner showed good ipl form (and scored a ton just last game), but Khawaja was in the form of his life opening and he gets shafted. I really think Warner could bat at 3 or even lower (as others have suggested) with very little detriment if any to the team overall or his output (and maybe after the fracas he was clearly a big part of he should be grateful to be back and prepared to bat out of his ideal position) unlike Khawaja whose number really fall away when he bats 3 or lower. So between the obsession with Warner opening and Finch as the captain opening, khawaja gets shafted around. And guess what? he doesnt look great in those lower positions... and that leads to people saying he *opens* or not. Unfortunately we cant know if he would have done better than Warner at opening. Then you have JL, still in love with S Marsh saying he thinks S Marsh is *Explosive*. Gosh... he is reading from a different dictionary than the rest of the cricket world. Jason Roy, Bairstow, Jos Butler, Maxwell, Warner (on occassion), Rohit on occassion, Dre Russ, AB... those guys can explode. M Marsh may be able to up the ante after hes been in a for a bit, bit isnt explosive. /rant out

All Khawaja’s runmaking in short form cricket has come at the top of the order. He is ordinary against spin and you potentially face a lot of it in ODIs. Crazy to suggest that he is a better T20 player than Shaun Marsh. There’s a reason Marsh had IPL contracts for many years and Khawaja did not. Neither have played many T20 internationals, its a small and fickle sample. Over T20 career as a whole Marsh has a much higher average (39 vs 31) and a faster run rate. And included a lot of matches in the IPL, a tougher league than the Big Bash. By the way, Khawaja doesn’t have a good technique, just a great eye and wrists. Gets square on and doesn’t move his feet to pace and is dodgy vs spin. The doubts over Khawaja’s place come in part because he hasn’t scored quickly despite the big scores this year. A run rate of 84 while averaging over 50 is rather pedestrian, especially if your team is winning. By contrast, England’s anchorman Joe Root has scored at 98 while averaging 52 this year. Which is why we need Warner opening as we need someone who can score quickly at the top. Khawaja’s scoring rate and weakness against spin has raised question marks over whether he should come in lower down. But for the moment he is at four unless they need to promote Maxwell. The real question is whether Stoinis should be in the team, not Khawaja. Ideally, he would be replaced by Mitchell Marsh, whose bowling is way ahead of Stoinis.

You are 100% wrong Chukling. Usi was the darling of NSW cricket ahead of Warner, Smith and not so far behind Hughes. Similarly he fitted seamlessly with QLD. Langer is a massive fan as was Lehmann before him. Conversely the Mickey Arthur/Michael Clarke era damaged his progress. Now Warner and Smith reputations exceed Khawaja's so it's a ego pecking order thing.

Unfortunately all your stats don't account for Khawaja being hit in the head in a world cup warm up game. It's seem to really affect him and put his foot work, and perhaps confidence, out.

I don’t see anyone making an issue out of it other than you, Chukling. Andrew Symonds is one of our favourite sons and it was Indians who called him a monkey, remember? I’d suggest you could take a look in the mirror before claiming a bias. We actually made discrimination punishable by law in the Australian parliament, so feel free to take it up with them. I sincerely doubt you will. A more substantive argument says we are more inclusive than divisive in all cases. I don’t see any christian white people playing for Pakistan, do you? I think you could consider whether a Pakistani playing for Australia is considered inclusive, yet a Christian playing for Pakistan is considered divisive. At 0-3, your elephant in the room has not done South Africa any favours, at all, so let’s leave the unsubstantiated accusations and crooked finger pointing to the politicians, okay?

pick them both/all. and keep going with the tonking training.