Ashes Scout: Khawaja’s classy response to alcohol sledge, Steve Waugh's message to Aussie selectors, Ali under pressure

Usman Khawaja is not known for being a sledger on the field but he has cut down a British tall poppy with an Instagram post about the Australian team’s World Test Championship final celebrations. 

Failed right-wing politician turned broadcaster Nigel Farage criticised the Australian team for not doing the traditional celebration of spraying champagne after the WTC final win over India at The Oval. 

“Once again the Australian cricket team do not celebrate in champagne style because 1 of the team members is a Muslim. Are we all to suspend normal life because of the minority?” he tweeted to his 1.7 million followers. 

Pat Cummins has previously stated the team has deliberately not done so out of respect for Khawaja’s Muslim faith which does not approve of alcohol. 

Khawaja took to Instagram to post a picture of himself enjoying a soft drink while holding the WTC mace along with the caption: “Celebrating with a Diet Coke!????Some old heads call it Un-Australian. I call it the new Australians. A game for all! #worldchampions”

Farage, who has a history of anti-immigration views and has faced several accusations of racist, sexist and xenophobic incidents during his time as a politician, received a flood of responses to his tweet.

Australian comedian Adam Zwar, a cricket tragic, received 2000-plus likes for his response.

“It’s called “standing by your mates”. And I get that you don’t understand it, because it’s the opposite to your modus operandi which is to sow division and fear.”

Waugh says Boland could be Aussies’ best

Steve Waugh believes Scott Boland could be Australia’s best bowler in the Ashes.

The only trick is, the Victoria quick has to get on the field first.

George Bailey and his selection panel will face the hardest decision of their tenure this week when they make a call on their bowling attack for the first Test at Edgbaston.

Only picked in Australia’s team when Josh Hazlewood has been injured, Boland has proven since his 2021 debut he is far more than just a reserve bowler.

The Victorian has taken 33 wickets at 14.57, the third-best average in history, and has an economy rate of 2.31 – the second-best of all seamers in the past four years.

Boland proved in Australia’s World Test Championship win over India he has the game to work in England, with match figures of 5-105.

Scott Boland celebrates the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo by Gareth Copley-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

On seaming decks, Boland’s relative lack of height allows him to move the ball off a good length and still hit the stumps.

It’s the kind of thing that excites Waugh, Australia’s last captain to win an Ashes series in England.

“He is a great Test-match bowler,” Waugh said.

“He can be the most successful of our attack in this Ashes series. I just love the way he bowls. 

“He is always at the batsman and hits the pitch really hard.”

If selectors do opt to pick Boland, it will mean leaving out Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc, given Pat Cummins is a lock as captain.

Starc brings a point of difference as a left-armer, and while he can leak runs Australia are happy to bank on his wicket-taking ability.

Hazlewood has been limited to four Tests in the past two years through injury but remains one of the most reliable bowlers in the world.

It would be a bold call to leave one out for Edgbaston but omitting Boland would also be brutal.

“I don’t know (if that’s the case),” Boland said.

“That’s my job … to keep performing, keep making the selectors’ job hard.

“I’ve just got to keep doing my role, keep taking wickets.

“If I can play it’s great. If I don’t play then obviously I’m disappointed. But I know I’ll get a chance at some stage.”

Boland said he expected the attack to be rotated throughout the English summer, conceding it would be hard for him to play all six Tests.

“I’ve got through six Shield games in two months before, and it’s hard work,” he said.

“If there’s one or two games that are short, like two or three days, it makes it a bit easier.

“But everyone’s got their head around (the fact) we’re going to have to rotate.”

The 34-year-old said he had also had little issue with being tempted into going too full in England searching for wickets, as can often be the case for first-timers.

“Bowling on the MCG for so long, I’ve always felt that as soon as I try to chase wickets I go for runs,” Boland said. 

“I just try and keep my game plan as simple as I can. As soon as I stray from that I want to go back into it as soon as I can.”

Ali not the greatest option: Butcher

Former England batter Mark Butcher cannot believe England have brought veteran spinner Moeen Ali out of Test retirement for an important series like the Ashes.

Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Podcast, he said he was baffled by the decision to draft in Ali, who turns 36 on Sunday. 

“There’s a lot of hoping going on… Jack Leach is a holding bowler for Ben Stokes right?” he said.

“Moeen Ali has never been a holding bowler in his entire career and has not played any red-ball cricket for two years. His Ashes record is pretty bad with bat and with ball, and he has had no interest in playing long-form cricket ever since his retirement.

“It’s not like you’re bringing Michael Jordan out of retirement, is it?”

Ali expects Australia to rightfully target him on his Test return, conceding he is likely to go for lots of runs.

Moeen will play his first red-ball match in almost two years in Friday’s Ashes opener at Edgbaston, after the finger-spinner was brought out of retirement for the headline series.

His return to Test cricket was first broached in a text exchange with England captain Ben Stokes, who sent a simple “Ashes?” text after Jack Leach was ruled out through injury.

Moeen Ali (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

But while Moeen answered the SOS to be Leach’s replacement, he knows he’s not going to be able to fulfil the fellow-spinner’s exact role in the team.

England have used Leach to great effect in the past year with the tweaker sending down the bulk of overs, taking the load off James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood.

He did so with a handy economy rate of 3.33, with more than 20 per cent of his overs being maidens.

It’s a role the more aggressive Moeen concedes he has never played and which is unlikely to change in this series.

“I am sure they know what they will get out of me, it’s not going to be a lot of maidens,” Moeen said. “I’ve never been able to hold an end up. When I have, it’s when I have been taking wickets. That’s the only time I have been able to build any pressure. Ben and Baz know that.

“I know I go for runs but he knows there are also some wicket-taking deliveries in between, which is all he cares about.”

Moeen’s record against Australia is meek – 20 wickets at 60.55. And while he has fared slightly better in England against Australia, he has still leaked 4.33 an over against the tourists.

He expects to be targeted again in the next two months. “100 per cent, if I was them I would do the same,” he said. 

“I think any spinner who came in would be the same. I am not expecting them to defend me. I am expecting them to come after me, which could be dangerous. Because Stokesy likes his field up, so I could go for a lot of runs.”

But he insists things can be different this time. “I am probably a bit smarter with my bowling now,” Moeen said. 

“When I played previously I just bowled and didn’t think too much about it. I know I have been out of the game but I have always thought if I play Australia again I will do this differently and that differently.”

Ashes countdown: Days to go …

2

The number of runs that separated the teams when England won at Birmingham in 2005 when Steve Harmison dismissed Michael Kasprowicz in one of the most thrilling finales in Test history. 

with AAP