Usman Khawaja’s first Test in more than two years has produced his ninth century for his nation, sealing a remarkable comeback in the Australian whites.
Khawaja was called in for Travis Head at No.5 in Sydney, and reached three figures inside the second session of day four at the SCG, triggering wild scenes inside the SCG for the hometown hero.
“The comeback king!” exclaimed Mark Howard in commentary for Fox Cricket, while Khawaja mimicked LeBron James’ ‘silencer’ celebration.
The century is Khawaja’s first in Test cricket since February 2019, and just the fourth from an Australian across the past two summers.
Australia are 7-384 in the third session with Khawaja (132*) and Mitchell Starc (23*) at the crease.
Starc survived an lbw DRS after Stuart Broad thought he had another wicket, piling on the pain for the tourists.
Starc was then given out caught behind only for his referral to show that the ball hit his arm guard and he survived his second DRS.
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Cummins though was the next to fall as Stuart Broad picked up his fourth wicket, with a successful use of DRS proving the Australian had got a glove on a short ball caught by Jos Buttler.
Cummins added 24 crucial runs after the hosts lost 3-53 inside the second session earlier with Broad finding the outside edge of Steve Smith (67) and Cameron Green (5) with the new ball shortly after the lunch break.
Smith has now had just one Test century from his past 23 innings, with his last coming at the same venue against India last summer.
In reaching fifty, however, Smith has now passed Justin Langer on Australia’s list of all-time run scorers in Test cricket, moving into seventh. Next on the list is Mark Waugh on 8,029 runs.
Alex Carey (13) was the last wicket to fall after top-edging a sweep shot to Joe Root.
The first wicket led to Mark Waugh saying in Fox Cricket commentary: “This could be the game, this hour.
“With the new ball, they’ve got to strike with it.”
Brendon Julian added: “There’s enough in this pitch with the ball. That should be enough encouragement for England.”
But batting is not easy, as the five Australia dismissals — all from edges — has shown.
Drinks were taken during the second session after Jos Buttler was hit in the back of the hands after Mark Wood delivery failed to get up just one ball after the previous delivery had the wicket-keeper taking the ball by his head.
Khawaja, playing his first Test since the 2019 Ashes, said: “We just saw the last ball, I’m glad I’m not batting last here.
“I think that wicket still has a few demons underneath. You can’t really see it because of the grass, but I reckon there’s a few cracks running through it. He obviously extracts a lot out of the wicket just being skiddy, attacking the stumps and bowling 150, but it hasn’t been easy all the way through.”
Shane Warne added: “We thought it was going to go a bit up and down but maybe not this early with what we’d seen. We thought maybe later in the game it would be tough for batting because you’re never really in, but at the moment it’s just playing the odd trick.”
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Just four overs after Smith’s dismissal, Broad struck again to have Cameron Green caught in the slips for five, extending the all-rounder’s poor series with the bat.
Green has excelled with the ball series, but is now just averaging just 14.25 while there are genuine concerns about the all-rounder’s technique.
Just before his wicket fell, Kerry O’Keeffe said of Green: “He’s destined to play a lot, but it’s a half front-footedness that gets him into trouble.
“There’s a tentativeness at the start of his innings that England is looking to expose.”
Meanwhile, Khawaja was given a life on 28, as he edged Leach but Joe Root could not hang on after the ball glanced wicket-keeper Jos Buttler.
“That is a big chance,” Adam Gilchrist said in commentary for Fox Cricket.
“It should have been taken. Unlucky for Leach,” added Kerry O’Keeffe.
Soon after all-rounder Ben Stokes left the field with a side strain after a bumper barrage had Smith in two-minds, having been struck on the hand as he awkwardly attempted to evade a short ball that did not get up.
“It goes from bad to worse for Joe Root and the England team,” Gilchrist said.
“We saw a chance go down in the previous Leach over and then this from Ben Stokes.”
An England statement on the stroke of lunch said Stokes was “being treated for left side tightness” and would be “assessed over the course of the next hour”. He has since returned to the field but will not be bowling.
Leach, who was dropped for the second Test after Australia hit him out of the attack and the side in Brisbane, started with four men towards the ropes and Shane Warne — the king of spin — was left flabbergasted.
“I’m all for the spinner having a bit of an in-out field to start with, but not four. Have one or two out there to give you a bit of protection if you drag one down or over-pitch a little, but you can’t let batsmen have easy singles straight away. You just can’t do that. How are you building up any pressure whatsoever?” Warne said in commentary for Fox Cricket.
After a brief rain delay, which lasted for a matter of moments but resulted in an unnecessarily long delay, where Kerry O’Keeffe said Test cricket continues to “stub itself in the toe” play resumed at 11am.
Smith did not waste anytime, driving Jimmy Anderson’s full-pitched delivery to the boundary.
Yet another rain delay, the briefest of sprinkles, saw Smith turn for the pavilion.
He was denied at first, with former Australian all-rounder Paul Reiffel telling Smith “you can’t keep running on and off”. One ball later however the umpires agreed and Smith sprinted off once more.
Former England captain Mike Atherton — one of the most respected voices in the game — slammed Smith.
“I’ve not been that impressed with Steve Smith’s attempts to run the game,” Atherton told SEN Test Cricket. “To dictate to the umpires when they’ll stay on or go off.”
“He thinks the rule is he runs the game,” Atherton laughed.
It led to Vaughan questioning why Smith was so intent to get off the field.
“What can’t be right though is that Steve Smith started to walk off. I don’t think that’s right that a player should be walking off until the umpires say,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
“If it’s looking really gloomy over the back, of course you go off,” Vaughan said. “But when it’s like this and you know it’s going to be a couple of minutes and now the players go into the dressing room, the umpires will have to go back out to check and then they’ll have to go into the dressing room to tell the captains, it’s just time taken out of the game that doesn’t need to happen.
“This is the big point, people only have a certain amount of money to spend on tickets for sport. Now if you were a family of four coming to the cricket and you had a day like this and you see this, you’d think ‘wait a minute, I’ve spent my hard-earned money on this day yet you could spend your money on another sport that is guaranteed that it will take place. This is where Test cricket must learn that there’s people spending a lot of money to come and watch and I just don’t think they’re getting value for money for what they pay.”
The constant delays continued a frustrating opening day with four rain delays meaning just over half the 90 overs were bowled at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Australia will rue their inability to convert their starts into big scores with David Warner (30), Marcus Harris (38) and Marnus Labuschagne (28) all failing to cash in.
James Anderson was again the pick of the England bowlers on day one taking 1-24 from 13 overs, while Stuart Broad had 1-34 in his return to the side, including the wicket of his bunny David Warner for the 13th time in Test cricket.
Mark Wood finished with figures of 1-31 including the crucial wicket of world No.1 batter Labuschagne to have the visitors well in the fight.
Warne believes the match is evenly poised and England have a real chance to knock Australia over for under 300 on day two.
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“I think it is one of those pitches where you never think you are in and safe,” Warne told Fox Cricket.
“You always feel like there is a ball with your name on it.
“I think on day two England have got to set the tone straight away. They have got to win that first session and get through that middle order. Green is struggling a bit and hasn’t made many runs and Carey is looking for his first big one and then the bowlers.
“So they are a couple of wickets away from being a real chance of knocking Australia over for 250 or 300. If they can do that they are right in the game.”
However Gilchrist called on England to stop being poor in the fundamentals of the game if they want to keep the pressure on Australia.
“If they can execute those skills and be sharp enough doing all the fundamentals,” Gilchrist said.
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“Another batch of no-balls on day one from the England bowlers. That is just a cardinal sin and they have done it consistently throughout the series to this point.
“Get the fundamentals right. Get the right bowlers bowling at the start. Make sure your best bowlers are ready to attack from the outset. Set the standard in that first half-hour.
“If they lay that foundation they will be able to profit throughout the day.”
Meanwhile day two presents veteran Khawaja with the perfect opportunity to show he still has what it takes to be a Test batsman, according to Gilchrist.
“It is a great chance to show that he has still got the class and the talent and determination and hunger to contribute at this level,” Gilchrist said.
“I think everyone will expect Travis Head to come back into the side next Test match and he’s earned that right.
“But this is Usman’s chance to say that I am the lock-in reserve batter and who knows in this day and age what other opportunities could come up tomorrow, let alone next week and then obviously casting an eye to the future tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka in this calendar year.”
Vaughan said Harris would be nervous sitting in the Pavilion after blowing his opportunity and thereby opening the door for Khawaja to make a statement upon his return to the Test side after Travis Head’s Covid-enforced absence.
“A player that’ll be nervous today is Marcus Harris because if Khawaja gets 100 today, you’d have to say he could move up to open and Travis Head moves up to five,” Vaughan said.
“So a big, big day for Khawaja and a big day for Harris as well”
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Warne believes Khawaja has a steely look in his eye and is expecting a big knock from him at the SCG on day two.
“I think back to the 90s and early 2000s when Australia had such a strong side and Australia A side that if you got given an opportunity you had to grab it,” Warne said.
“If you don’t grab it you are going to get jumped over in the pecking order and I think that Australia are in a really good position now with a bit of depth in bowling and batting.
“Khawaja looked like he had a bit of the “Eye of the Tiger” today. I think he looks ready to go, so I expect a big one from him tomorrow.”
However the looming bad weather could again play a part on day two with rain expected, so Australia and England will have to take their chances when they are on the field if they want to force a result over the next four days.
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WEATHER
Friday: 29, 60% chance of rain (0 to 2mm)
Saturday: 30, 90% chance of rain (8 to 20mm)
Sunday: 26, 70% chance of rain (1 to 5mm)
TEAMS
Australia XI: Marcus Harris, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
England XI: Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joseph Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonathan Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Mark Wood, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
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