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You could tell from his frenzied celebration after gliding Ben Stokes behind point to bring up his 15th Test century that this was Usman Khawaja’s most treasured ton yet.
The jewel in the crown of the veteran’s remarkable international renaissance over the last 18 months, Khawaja’s unbeaten, defiant 126 – helped by a late reprieve when comprehensively bowled by Stuart Broad off a no-ball – has withstood a fierce challenge from England’s relentless bowling attack, and ensured Australia reached stumps on Day 2 still well and truly in the hunt for a crucial victory at Edgbaston.
Coming off 279 balls, it was traditional Test match batting, and a stark contrast to the manic ‘Bazball’ approach of England on a whirlwind opening day; but all the more spectacular because of it.
However, with David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne both knocked over in successive Stuart Broad balls early in the day, and an out of touch-looking Steve Smith only mustering a turgid 16, there are concerns for Australia’s previously formidable-looking batting order, though Khawaja’s heroics and stoic middle-order resistance have prevented them coming to bite the visitors immediately.
Finishing the day 5/311, still 82 runs behind England’s 8/392 declared – albeit having already batted for 16 more overs – the Aussies still have a mountain to climb to take a vital first innings lead, especially with the home seamers conjuring up infinitely more seam and swing than their counterparts managed on Day 1.
But with Khawaja and Alex Carey (52 not out) steadying the ship with an unbroken 91-run stand, and thanks to other telling contributions from Travis Head (50) and Cameron Green (38) to recover a disastrous start, the visitors can head into Day 3 with the match still up for grabs, even if England will be the happier of the two teams thus far.
Under cloudy skies to begin the day’s play, and following the briefest of delays due to some early-morning drizzle, batting immediately looked far more hazardous for Khawaja and Warner than it had done in England’s first innings.
With conditions ripe for James Anderson and Stuart Broad to get the ball swinging, the openers needed to be circumspect: the result was a trio of maidens to begin the day, already more than the entire Australian attack had managed in their 78-over first innings.
The go-slow had the desired effect for England: Warner, having charged to an unbeaten eight overnight with two sizzling cover-driven fours off his nemesis Broad, eventually succumbed to the pressure, adding just one to his tally before a leaden-footed drive caught the inside edge and was dragged back onto his stumps.
The scorecard reads ‘Warner: b Broad’ once again, and for another single-figure score – but this time, the opener would trudge off with no one to blame but himself.
Things went from concern to desperation for Australia one ball later, when Labuschagne, perhaps unnerved by a bizarre England field featuring a silly mid-on and a leg slip, poked nervously at a classic outswinger from Broad wide enough to be safely left.
Jonny Bairstow, diving in front of first slip in his first Test match with the wicketkeeping gloves since 2021, took a spectacular one-handed screamer that he’d spent the rest of the day trying to cancel out.
At 2/29, it was well and truly advantage England, with their newfound approach to cavalier cricket epitomised by a one-off over at the height of their dominance for the part-time medium pace of Harry Brook, for whom Khawaja chose to safely negotiate a series of unthreatening half-trackers and nude seamers rather than risk the most embarrassing of dismissals.
Where Smith’s arrival to the crease in his Bradmanesque 2019 series on these shores always brought with it a change of mood, this time not even he could turn the worm.
Leaving more circumspectly than Labuschagne had managed in his one-ball stay, Smith nevertheless looked short of timing and uncertain of himself; repeated clunked drives trickled to close-in fielders, while even looser offerings were usually only patted for singles.
With Khawaja looking assured at the other end, strong off his pads to the quicks and using his feet superbly to loft Moeen Ali’s off-breaks down the ground, Smith’s struggles stood out all the more.
He’d fight his way to a painful 16 and the brink of lunch when his 59th ball brought with it a most un-Smith-like dismissal: a seemingly unthreatening offering from Ben Stokes, angling slightly in from over the wicket at a length the champion would normally clip through mid-wicket with a flourish, was played all around, a prolonged appeal from the England captain bringing with it an eventual raised finger from Marais Erasmus.
While height appeared to be the pressing issue, a bewildered Smith’s review soon put paid to that: ball-tracker’s projection cannoning into the top of off stump, the veteran followed from the pitch by the challenge he’d spurned.
Coming in at 3/67, an eerily similar scoreline to the one which preceded his World Test Championship final heroics, Head immediately looked in better touch than Smith.
Getting his innings going with a powerful sweep then drive of Moeen in back-to-back overs, Head first ensured he and Khawaja reached lunch for no further loss, then found his groove again after the break.
Australia’s answer to Bazball, Head, in the form of his life, began to put pressure back on the England bowlers for the first time.
Particularly dismissive of Moeen’s offerings, dancing and lofting anything full and viciously cutting when the recalled off-spinner pulled his length back, 8 runs off 25 balls soon became 50 off just 60.
The placid surface made targeting Head with his purported short-ball weakness a difficult proposition, though he again looked uneasy against anything at the body, with an Ollie Robinson bumper leaving him in all sorts as his delayed attempt to duck – having first looked to jump clear – saw the ball ping off his elbow.
His mind seemed clearer when, in the next over, another short ball from Robinson was viciously pulled to the square leg boundary, but having bludgeoned his way to another half-century, he would be unable to make good on his start.
Of all bowlers, it would be Moeen who did him in, though in truth Head blew it of his own accord: again looking to apply pressure, he failed to reach the pitch of a standard off-break after charging down the track, went through with his lofted shot anyway, and skewed the simplest of catches off the inside edge to Zak Crawley at mid-wicket.
The breakthrough would have meant even more had Bairstow been able to complete a simple stumping just two balls later, with Green beaten on the charge between bat and pad.
For all Bairstow’s chutzpah as a batter on Day 1, the question of whether his sublime 78 outweighs the two dismissals he botched – Carey was also given a life on 26 when a regulation outside edge off Root clanged out of his gloves – especially given England’s bold choice to omit premier gloveman Ben Foakes from their Ashes squad to accommodate his return.
Green looked only too keen to capitalise on his life: driving with authority and unafraid to larrup the spinners over the infield and down the ground, a sedate start against the quicks was cured in the final over before tea, Green relishing the part-time off-breaks of Root with two boundaries to head into the break unbeaten on 21, with the score a respectable 4/188.
Resuming on 84, though, attention soon turned to Khawaja: moving sedately into the 90s, Stokes’ ploy to bring the field up and encourage a rash shot failed, Khawaja picked the gap behind point perfectly, a delightful late cut bringing with it his 15th Test ton, his first in England, and most vociferously celebrated of all.
Green wasn’t there to congratulate him, however: the over prior, his assured 38 was ended by Moeen at last, who exploited the all-rounder’s penchant to drive aggressively well away from his body by turning viciously through the gap between bat and pad to comprehensively bowl him.
While spectacular looking, former great Ricky Ponting’s chief concern was the technical flaw of Green’s that brought about the dismissal.
“That guard on leg stump, trying to play the ball too square on the off side, and it presents a big gap between bat and pad that Moeen Ali has found,” Ponting said on Sky Sports.
“Drift away, he’s dragged into the shot – but he’s looking way too square. Vicious turn, thumps into the top of middle and leg.”
Despite a pair of wickets, the arrival of Carey did nothing to help Moeen’s figures, the off-spinner continuing to go at above four runs an over.
It took consecutive boundaries from the South Australian, the first a trademark paddle sweep with the spin and the second a textbook lofted drive down the ground, for Stokes to at last lose faith in his recalled spinner after 26 mixed overs, turning to Root and Brook again to kill time until the new ball could be taken.
Root’s spell nearly did the trick – Bairstow’s drop in the 80th over not only spared Carey, but cost England the chance for a look at Australia’s brittle tail against a second new ball – but a bigger fish seemed to have fallen when Broad returned to the attack.
With a new ball in hand, he’d need just two balls to comprehensively bowl Khawaja through the gate on 112, the centurion undone by a sharp nip-backer and his own fatigued footwork… only for replays to reveal the smallest, but costliest, of oversteps.
Usman Khawaja celebrates his century. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Carey rubbed salt into the wound further by dispatching a cover drive to the ropes later in the over: the pair would safely negotiate the worst of the second new ball, while also seeing Australia past the 300 mark.
Bringing up a second 50 of the tour in slightly streaky fashion, an outside edge off Moeen perfectly bisecting Bairstow and wide first slip Root; but by that point in the day, Carey and Australia had made their own luck.
Australia’s run rate at the close of 3.30 per over might have been a far cry from the five-an-over onslaught England had unleashed on a memorable opening day, but it was no less impressive a performance, especially after a dire start.
To lose Warner, Labuschagne and Head all cheaply yet still be in excess of 300 by the close, with the prospect of more runs for Khawaja and Carey and a vital job ahead for the bowlers on the third morning, is a sign of the newfound strength and consistency of this Australian team.
In 2019, it was Smith, Labuschagne or bust: heroes in 2023, meanwhile, are everywhere. None shone brighter than Khawaja, though: at 36, with centuries in India, Pakistan, New Zealand, the UAE and now England, his place as a fully fledged great of Australian cricket is all but secured – especially if it proves to be a Test-winning knock.
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