Usman Khawaja says back-to-back tons in the SCG Test hasn't changed his prospects of retaining his spot for the fifth Test in Hobart and endorses selectors' consistency
Two tons but no second Test: Khawaja resigned to fate
Convinced his second century in 48 hours will not be enough to spare him the axe, super-sub Usman Khawaja has selflessly advocated for the kind of selection consistency that he craved earlier in his career.
Khawaja's remarkable return to Test cricket continued Saturday as he followed his first-innings 137 with a sublime unbeaten 101 that hastened an Australian declaration and revived the hosts' hopes of a 5-0 whitewash that has been threatened by inclement weather.
Yet Australia's pre-match guarantee that Travis Head, who Khawaja replaced after he contracted COVID-19, would return for the pink-ball Hobart Test meant the 35-year-old was under no illusions of the pecking order coming into Sydney.
Head was Australia's leading run scorer during the first three Tests when the series was on the line, notching a brilliant 152 at the Gabba.
"At the moment I'm quite resigned to the fact that I probably will miss out," Khawaja said.
"Just talking to (selection chief) George Bailey and the selectors about continuity and making sure we have a similar team. I'm not totally against that either.
"I felt like throughout my career, a lot of changes were made and I was on the wrong side of them a few times.
"I'm the first to say that I think there needs to be structure and stability. I know how hard it is as a cricketer, chopping and changing, for your confidence.
"I actually like the processes the selectors have been taking throughout this series.
"Even Scotty Boland bowled amazing last game ... and he was obviously going to be dropped if Josh Hazlewood was fit."
As he reminded reporters following his first-innings century on Thursday, Khawaja had in fact been the beneficiary of a tough selection call under a similar set of circumstances six years ago when he returned from injury.
The left-hander replaced Shaun Marsh who had scored 182 in the preceding match in Hobart against West Indies and reclaimed his No.3 spot.
On other occasions selection has gone against Khawaja; most notably in 2013 during the ‘homework' saga in India, but also during the 2011-12 home summer, on Ashes tours in 2013 and 2019 and then on the subcontinent for Test series in Sri Lanka (in 2016) and Bangladesh (2017).
During the Marsh-Khawaja conundrum for the 2015 Boxing Day Test, selectors were forced to consider whether both could fit into the same XI at the expense of someone else in the order.
Back then it was opener Joe Burns who appeared the most dispensable. Selectors backed him, just as Khawaja now expects them to stick with Marcus Harris, who top-scored on a tough pitch at the MCG but whose current series average of 29.83 is the lowest among Australia's specialist batters.
Khawaja has a strong record as a Test opener from a small sample – he averages 96.80 from seven innings, with one of his two centuries from the top coming in a day-night Test against South Africa – but is aware of the vastly different challenge taking on the new ball presents.
"You can't really compare five to opening – it's a bit like apples and oranges," said Khawaja. "I know because I've done both. Opening is very tough.
"I came in here for (Head) and he's had a great series. The selectors have made a lot of tough decisions this series. I don't really expect it to be too different even though I scored back-to-back tons.
"It's just the way it is – I came in (because of) COVID
"Hopefully I've shown that I can still score runs at this level if an opportunity does present itself in the future."
Vodafone Men's Ashes
Squads
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nic Maddinson, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner
England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Schedule
First Test: Australia won by nine wickets
Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs
Third Test: Australia won by an innings and 14 runs
Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG
Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena