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Australian cricket has had its fair share of highs and lows throughout the past decade.
Under Tim Paine, Australia has been able to move forward from the Newlands incident and become a stronger side. Here are my top five Test knocks by Australian batsmen from the past decade.
5. Usman Khawaja 145 v South Africa – Adelaide, 2016
Having lost the series, Australia were playing for pride in the third Test at the Adelaide Oval against South Africa. At 9-260 late on day one, South Africa declared and there was one problem for Australia. David Warner had gone off the field for more than two overs and even though he came back onto the field, it wasn’t long enough for him to be allowed to open the innings.
Thus, Usman Khawaja was trusted with surviving the rest of day one with debutant Matt Renshaw.
Khawaja and Renshaw were very watchful under lights against the pink ball as they survived until stumps. Despite losing Renshaw and Warner early on day two, Khawaja remained patient and waited for the South African bowlers to lose patience.
After taking 60 balls to reach double figures, Khawaja pressed on the accelerator as he reached his half-century off 115 balls. He formed big partnerships with skipper Steve Smith (59) and debutant Peter Handscomb (54) as he reached his fifth Test century.
Following a flurry of wickets late on day two, Khawaja had to go back into survival mode to ensure Australia didn’t collapse. His innings came to an end early on day three as Vernon Philander got one to come back in sharply and trap him leg before for 145.
Australia’s Usman Khawaja. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Even though this match was a dead rubber, Khawaja played an outstanding innings. He had to survive with Renshaw, then consolidate and accelerate with Smith and Handscomb, consolidate again with Nic Maddinson and Matthew Wade before going back into survival mode with Mitchell Starc.
He made a world-class South African seam attack look bang average with the pink ball. Khawaja averaged 52.33 with the bat in that series against South Africa and was the lone Australian centurion in the series. Australia would win the Test by seven wickets as Khawaja was named player of the match for his 145.
4. Michael Hussey 134 v Pakistan – Sydney, 2010
Having outplayed Pakistan in the first Test, Pakistan bounced back very well. After bowling out the hosts for 127, Pakistan scored 333 in their first innings. Despite a solid opening stand, Australia were still behind by 62 runs when Michael Hussey walked in with Australia 2-144.
Hussey looked very solid from the beginning however was very lucky to be dropped by Kamran Akmal on 27. He was dropped again on 45 before reaching his half-century off 77 balls. Despite looking very comfortable at the crease, Hussey was running out of partners as Australia slumped to 8-257 – a lead of only 51. Peter Siddle joined Hussey at the crease and the pair batted until stumps on day three.
The pair continued to bat and bat and bat as they were chipping away with a solid lead. Hussey drove past mid-off as he reached his 11th Test century. Hussey and Siddle (38) ultimately put on 123 for the ninth wicket before Siddle departed and no.11 Doug Bollinger was dismissed for a golden duck as Hussey remained 134 not out.
Australia were down and out from the game for 90per cent of the test. Yet once again, Hussey played a gem of an innings with the lower order, especially Siddle to keep Australia in the hunt. A lot of credit needs to go to Peter Siddle for batting with Hussey for 45 overs.
Australia ended up winning the Test by 36 runs and Hussey was awarded player of the match. While there have been allegations about the match being fixed after the whole match-fixing scandal that came out later in the year, it shouldn’t taint one of the best second innings hundreds scored at the SCG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lpnTGVzDUc
3. Michael Clarke 161 v South Africa – Cape Town, 2014
With the series locked at 1-all, Australia and South Africa locked heads at Cape Town for the decider. Australia won the toss and skipper Michael Clarke elected to bat first and it seemed to pay off. The Australian skipper walked in at 2-138, South Africa hanging on by a thread.
The South African quicks showed no mercy at all as they peppered Clarke with bouncers at uncomfortable lengths. Clarke seemed troubled by the barrage, especially when Morne Morkel was bowling 145km thunderbolts from around the wicket as he was hit on the body and helmet four times. On 26, Graeme Smith dropped Clarke at slip. Clarke continued to battle on as he grinded his way to a half-century off 122 balls.
After a 79 run stand with David Warner (135), Clarke put on 184 with Steve Smith (84) for the fourth wicket as he reached his 27th career Test century off 215 balls.
Despite being stuck on 99 for 25 deliveries, he held his nerve as he drove Vernon Philander for a boundary. After reaching his century, Clarke accelerated and reached his 150 in 288 deliveries. Rain caused about 50 overs of day two cut off, thus Clarke declared with Australia 7-494 and remained 161 not out.
Michael Clarke of Australia (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
The blows Clarke received from Morne Morkel was revealed to be more serious than just a bruise. Scans showed that he had fractured his shoulder. Despite this, Clarke battled on to score one of his best hundreds under pressure.
Sure many people may not like Clarke, but he had done a great job as captain and stood up as a batsman under pressure many times. For me, he’s the third-best Test batsman I’ve seen play for Australia after Steve Smith and Ricky Ponting. Australia would go on to win the match with just 27 balls to go on day five as they won their fourth Test series on South African soil post-apartheid.
2. Usman Khawaja 141 v Pakistan – Dubai, 2018
Pakistan had outplayed Australia with bat and ball as they set Australia a target of 462 in 140 overs left in the Test. Openers Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch walked out with the task of saving the test.
From the outset, Khawaja was very positive in his footwork against the Pakistani spinners. Finch (48) and Khawaja put on 87 for the opening wicket before Mohammad Abbas wreaked havoc as Australia slumped to 3-87. Debutant Travis Head joined Khawaja as the pair reached stumps – Australia 3-136 and Khawaja the set batsman 50 not out.
The pair batted until lunch until Head was dismissed seven balls after lunch. Despite Khawaja reaching his ton off 224 balls, Australia were in trouble at 5-252 with more than 50 overs left of play.
Skipper Tim Paine joined Khawaja as the pair was solid against the Pakistani bowlers. Australia went into tea with the pair unbeaten and after tea, they remained unbeaten with one hour left of play. And that’s when tragedy struck.
After batting for 125 overs and 522 minutes, Yasir Shah had trapped Khawaja leg before for 141. His marathon innings had ended as Pakistan kept their hopes alive. Despite a few more wickets falling after Khawaja’s dismissal, Australia held on for a draw. The improbable had been done in Dubai and Khawaja played a massive role in that.
After this innings, the Australian selectors should’ve never put Khawaja back to three in the Australian line-up. He averages 96.8 as an opener with two quality tons against two very good attacks. With all due respect to Joe Burns, there is no one better than Usman Khawaja to partner David Warner in Test cricket.
He should’ve been given the long run as an opener while Warner was banned to give him a sense of security in the Australian team instead of being hung out to dry at three and then being scapegoated in the 2019 Ashes.
1. Steve Smith 144 v England – Birmingham, 2019
After being knocked out of the World Cup at the hands of a thrashing by England in Birmingham, Australia looked to settle the scores in the first Ashes Test at the same ground a few weeks later. Electing to bat first, Australia were in trouble at 2-17 as the world’s best Test batsman Steve Smith came out to bat. The Edgbaston crowd unsurprisingly gave him jeers as he walked onto the field.
He took his time before scoring his first Test run in over 16 months. After decent partnerships with Usman Khawaja (13) and Travis Head (35), England’s bowlers ran riot as Australia slumped to 8-122. Smith was stranded on 42 and was running out of partners.
(Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
He finally got some support as Smith and Peter Siddle put on 88 for the ninth wicket before Siddle departed for 44. With Australia 9-210, Smith was on 85 with only Nathan Lyon left as support. On 99, he drove Ben Stokes through the covers to score his first Test century since the boxing day Ashes Test in 2017. Smith and Lyon put on 74 for the last wicket before Smith was bowled for 144.
Smith had bailed Australia out of trouble but massive credit needs to go to Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon for the crucial runs they had contributed alongside Smith. It takes incredible mental strength to come back after a 12-month ban, come back from that and score a hundred in a daunting atmosphere like Edgbaston, you can’t do anything but applaud his courage, resilience etc.
Virat Kohli may be the best batsman for me in terms of his consistency in all three formats, but Smith is miles ahead as best Test batsman right now. Smith would score another ton in the Test as England were thrashed by 251 runs and would fail to regain the Ashes a few weeks later.
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