Usman Khawaja needs just 141 runs in his next four Tests to secure the highest aggregate in a calendar year by an Australian batsman over the age of 35 in Test match history.
The 35-year-old Queensland captain has scored 888 runs in seven Tests this year and with two against the West Indies and another two against South Africa to come in 2022, the aggregate record is well within his grasp.
Only Adam Voges (1028 runs in 12 Tests in 2015) and Don Bradman (1025 runs in eight Tests in 1948) have made 1000 runs in a calendar year for Australia post-35 years of age.
Khawaja warmed up for the challenges ahead with a classy 72 for the Bulls batting at No.4 in their big win over Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield season opener.
Bulls coach Wade Seccombe explained why Khawaja is playing his best cricket in his twilight years.
“He is a very relaxed and contented man at the minute,” Seccombe told AAP.
Usman Khawaja plays a shot during the third day of the first Test cricket match between Pakistan and Australia at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on March 6. — AFP
“He is that smidge older. He’s got a wonderful little family and I think he is viewing the opportunity to play Test cricket as the icing on the cake for what has been a good career anyway.
“Usman really wants to set the tone in our group and one of the best ways a leader can lead is by his actions out on the paddock.”
Khawaja spent two and half years in the Test wilderness before his recall as an opener against England at the SCG in January this year where he scored 137 and an unbeaten 101. That was on the back of a stellar Shield season for the Bulls where his 529 runs at an average of 58.77 made a compelling case to selectors.
After his Test return, Khawaja made two centuries and two scores of more than 90 in Pakistan and continued his form in Sri Lanka.
“It’s very impressive,” Seccombe said.
“Usman showed that he is very adaptable and can score big runs in different conditions.
“Batters love batting. Give them a chance and they will bat all day and Usman is no different. He wants to put his best out there every time he goes out.”
Alex Hales has pencilled his name into England’s T20 World Cup line-up as he starred in their tense eight-run victory over Australia in Perth.
With captain Jos Buttler returning to the side after a calf injury, Hales was preferred to Phil Salt as the England white-ball captain’s opening partner for the first of three T20s against their Ashes rivals on Sunday.
And though Hales struggled early on for fluency, he gradually gained his footing and underpinned England’s 6-208 with a knock of 84 off 51 balls, sharing a blistering 132-run stand in 11.2 overs with Buttler.
Their efforts went a long way towards the tourists’ success as Australia slipped from 3-158 to fall short on 9-200, with David Warner’s 73 off 44 balls in vain at Optus Stadium.
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Buttler confirmed Hales, who has recently returned to the fold after more than three years following a recreational drugs test failure, is set to open again when England return to the same venue in a fortnight for their World Cup opener against Afghanistan.
“Things change quickly in sport but he’s got the first crack at it, at the minute,” said Buttler, who revealed Hales was selected because of his pedigree in Australia’s Big Bash League.
(Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)
“It was a really tough call, we spent a lot of time debating it and thinking about it, and it was only really Alex’s record in Australia that got him ahead.
“He’s settled back in really well and he played fantastically well here. He’s a really destructive player, he accesses all areas of the ground and he’s intimidating to bowl at so it was great to watch at the other end.”
Buttler, who himself sparkled with 68 off 32 balls, declined to appeal for an apparent obstruction in the field as an entertaining high-scoring contest neared its conclusion.
Confusion reigned as Matthew Wade top-edged into his helmet before appearing to block off Mark Wood as he ran towards attempting a return catch, but England winning took the sting out of any controversy.
“I was just looking at the ball,” said Buttler. “It’s quite hard, I don’t know what I’m appealing for really, I could maybe have asked some of the other boys to see if they had a better view.
“I didn’t really see what happened. We’ve only just got to Australia so I thought just carry on in the game.
“It was a great game of cricket, I really enjoyed it. Australia seemed to have it under control and we needed to find ways to take wickets but we did that and showed great character.
“We can take some really good confidence from that. Anytime you play Australia they’re challenging games.
“They’ve left a few guys behind, which is quite a smart decision with the schedule they’ve had and the World Cup just around the corner. This was a great game of cricket and I expect two more.”
Shreyas Iyer has smashed an unbeaten 113 and forged a 161-run stand with Ishan Kishan to secure India’s series-levelling seven-wicket victory in the second one-day international in Ranchi.
Chasing 279 for victory, India lost both openers inside nine overs but Kishan struck 93 and Iyer produced a career-best knock to help the hosts romp home with 25 balls to spare on Sunday.
Electing to bat first, South Africa were 2-40 when Reeza Hendricks (74) and Aiden Markram (79) combined in a run-a-ball partnership of 129 as a 300-plus total looked well within their grasp.
After they departed, Heinrich Klaasen (30) and David Miller, who made 35 not out, scored briskly but the Indian bowlers conceded only 57 in the last 10 overs to restrict South Africa to 7-278.
Mohammed Siraj was pick of the India attack, claiming 3-38 in his 10 overs.
India lost skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill before they could reach the 50-mark but Kishan and Iyer kept their chase firmly on course.
Kishan smashed seven sixes – three more than the entire South Africa team – but his 83-ball blitz ended when holed out to deep midwicket just short of his hundred.
Iyer stayed put to seal the victory with his 15th four and complete a brilliant comeback by an India side bereft of their leading white-ball players, who are in Australia for the Twenty20 World Cup. New Delhi will host the decider on Tuesday.
Ellyse Perry’s best shot at an international Twenty20 recall could come in the WBBL, with the superstar allrounder labelling the tournament a potential launching pad for several players.
Monday marked exactly one year since Perry’s last T20 for Australia, having since been overlooked for the format during the last Ashes summer and the Commonwealth Games.
Australia face a changing of the guard in coming months, with Rachael Haynes retiring and Meg Lanning still on personal leave ahead of the summer and February’s T20 World Cup.
Perry would loom as a logical option. Still a fixture in the 50-over team, the 31-year-old would offer value for her top-order experience as a steady hand at No.3 and No.4.
The right-armer has also resumed bowling, having overcome a stress fracture in her back while also working on technical changes in her delivery.
Ellyse Perry celebrates a wicket during game two of the Women’s Ashes ODI series. (Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images)
Perry is loath to discuss her selection chances, but can see this summer’s tournament as crucial in the selection race to fill the two spots.
“Traditionally speaking the WBBL is a great launching pad for all players,” Perry told reporters. “We have unearthed some great talent in this competition and it has given people the chance and opportunity.
“With a few changes in the Australian set up, there is a really great chance for everyone to play really well and do their best to be a part of a really competitive Australian side.”
Australia have several up-and-coming options ahead of T20s in India come December, including Nicola Carey, Elyse Villani, Georgia Redmayne, Georgia Voll, Annabell Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield and Laura Harris.
But Perry likely holds the cards with her change of mindset in batting the most important factor.
The right-hander will bat at No.3 or No.4 for the Sixers when they begin the tournament against Brisbane in Mackay on Thursday night.
She is yet to bat at a strike-rate exceeding 100 in any edition of the WBBL, but has made a point to add to her power game in the past year, and struck at 136.73 in the recent Hundred tournament in England with the Birmingham Phoenix.
“You always want to evolve and different points of time along the way things are highlighted and speak more to where you want to take things – and perhaps also how you want to keep contributing to the team and game,” Perry said.
“In the last couple of years that has been at the forefront of my mind.
“Hopefully it makes my contribution to whatever team I am part of greater than what it has been in the last little bit.”
Meanwhile, Sydney Thunder have named New Zealand quick Lea Tahuhu as a replacement for Hannah Darlington (knee) ahead of their opener against Hobart on Friday.
New Zealand are hopeful all-rounder Daryl Mitchell will recover from a broken finger in time for their opening T20 World Cup match aganst hosts Australia on October 22.
Mitchell fractured the little finger on his right hand last week and was ruled out of the ongoing tri-series at home against Pakistan and Bangladesh.
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said Mitchell had a positive prognosis after scans on his injury.
“We’re still hopeful he might be right for the first game but probably more realistically in the second game,” Stead told reporters on Monday.
Daryl Mitchell. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
New Zealand, runners-up to Australia last year in the United Arab Emirates, face Afghanistan in their second match on October 26.
A seam bowler and middle order batsman, Mitchell had a cast on his hand on Monday but said it was a massive relief to be cleared for the World Cup.
“It’s just a matter of getting rid of the pain. Hopefully that will go away over the next couple of weeks,” he told reporters.
Paceman Lockie Ferguson, who missed last year’s World Cup due to a calf tear, is also under a cloud in the lead-up to Australia after suffering an abdominal injury.
Stead said he was unlikely to feature in the home tri-series but was “tracking well” for the World Cup.
Fast bowler Adam Milne was also cleared of major damage after an injury scare in New Zealand’s eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in Christchurch on Sunday.
Playing in his first competitive match since March after recovering from an Achilles injury, Milne came off with a minor abdominal strain after bowling two overs.
Stead said it was purely precautionary, though, and Milne could feature in the next World Cup warm-up against Pakistan in Christchurch on Tuesday.
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