Galle [Sri Lanka], February 2 (ANI): Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith backed veteran opener Usman Khawaja to continue with the Test side as long as possible, saying that he is batting well and “age is just a number.”
A dominant performance with the bat against Sri Lanka in Galle has left Australia with plenty of ponder ahead of the World Test Championship Final. Smith is backing in-form batter Usman Khawaja to prolong his international career and maintain his opening role for this year’s ICC World Test Championship Final and the upcoming Ashes series.
Khawaja scored his highest Test score during Australia’s crushing victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle, with the left-hander contributing a vital innings of 232 to move into the top five leading run-scorers for the current World Test Championship cycle. This was his first-ever double hundred and has come in Asian conditions, which favour spin predominantly.
While Khawaja recently turned 38 and is facing a fresh battle from the likes of teenager Sam Konstas to maintain his place at the top of the batting order ahead of a busy upcoming Test period, Smith sees no reason why the veteran cannot continue in the role for as long as he wishes.
“He is still batting exceptionally well and age is only a number,” Smith said of Khawaja as quoted by ICC after the game.
“He is still doing everything right, he is catching well in the slips, he is a senior figure. He is batting really well. I am not a selector, but I am sure as long as he wants to play then I am happy with him there for sure.”
Smith also defended batter’s sub-par performances against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he was troubled consistently by pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. He could score just 184 runs in 10 innings, averaging around 20 with one fifty to his name. He was dismissed by Bumrah five times out of nine.
“Batting at the top of the order at the moment, particularly in Australia, is as hard as I have seen in my career. The amount of seam movement, and you throw into that he’s facing Jasprit Bumrah throughout the summer with a brand new ball, fresh every time. There is probably not a much bigger threat in world cricket at the moment or almost ever,” he said.
“He is batting nicely, it is just tough at the moment. Fortunately here the last few times he has played on the sub-continent, he’s come with such a clear method, a really effective method and stuck to it for long periods. He is tough to set a field to when he is able to manipulate the field,” he added.
While Khawaja’s spot at the top of the order seemingly looks locked in for the World Test Championship Final in June against South Africa, Australia face a fresh selection headache as they try and squeeze all their best players into their XI for the one-off Test.
Konstas shown enough during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series to put his hand up for selection, debutant Josh Inglis threw his hat into the ring with a century on debut against Sri Lanka, while star batter Travis Head looked in great touch in a relatively unfamiliar role alongside Khawaja as opener.
Injured all-rounder Cameron Green also returned to the batting crease at training in Australia and is in contention to take on the Proteas as a batter only should selectors opt to recall the highly-talented 25-year-old.
The conditions expected at Lord’s for the one-off final will be vastly different to what the Aussies faced against Sri Lanka in Galle, but confidence is high within the Australian camp and Smith thinks his side can continue their winning run if they can maintain their excellent form.
“To post 650 on what was a wicket that offered a fair amount of spin, was a very good effort,” Smith noted.
“It was a near-flawless performance,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. Coming to the match, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. A 92-run partnership between Usman Khawaja and Travis Head (57 in 40 balls, with 10 fours and a six) kickstarted things off for Australia. Steve Smith became the fourth Australian to touch the 10,000 mark in Tests and centuries from him and Khawaja marked Australia’s day one end at 330/2.
On the next day, misery and runs from Australian batters continued to pile up for Sri Lanka and the spin bowling trio of Prabath Jayasuriya (3/193), Jeffrey Vandersay (3/182) and Nishan Peiris (0/189) looked hopeless beyond repair. Smith fell to Vandersay (141 in 251 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes) after the team crossed the 400-run mark while Khawaja converted his century to a maiden double ton, making 232 in 352 balls, with 16 fours and a six. Josh Inglis on his Test debut, also slammed a 94-ball 102 with 10 fours and a six, taking Australia beyond the 600-run mark. Contributions from Alex Carey (46*), Beau Webster (23) and Mitchell Starc (19*) helped Australia reach 654/6 declared, their highest-ever score in Asia, outdoing the 617 runs scored against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1980.
If Australia had batted once in these two days, Sri Lanka was made to do it twice. In the first innings, SL ended the day two at 44/3, but ended the innings at 165 thanks to Dinesh Chandimal, who played a valiant knock of 72 in 139 balls, with nine fours.
Matthew Kuhnemann (5/63) took his second Test fifer, while Nathan Lyon got three scalps. Mitchell Starc also got two to become fourth Australian to complete 700 international wickets.
Sri Lanka could not remove the 489-run deficit in the second innings, as by day four, they were bundled out for 247 runs, with Jeffrey Vandersay (53 in 47 balls, with seven fours and two sixes scoring maiden Test fifty and Dinesh Chandimal (31 in 49 balls, with three fours), Angelo Mathews (41 in 59 balls, with six fours), Kamindu Mendis (32 in 26 balls, with four boundaries and a six), skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (39 in 50 balls, with eight fours) and Kusal Mendis (34 in 47 balls, with four boundaries) throwing away their wickets after getting starts.
Kuhnemann and Lyon took four wicket each, crushing Lankan Lions by an innings and 242 runs.
Khawaja took home the ‘Player of the Match’ title. (ANI)
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