Ageless Khawaja chases yet more history

Opener Usman Khawaja passed 5,000 Test runs overnight and is closing in on another milestone as he aims to push Australia towards an unlikely victory in the final Ashes Test at The Oval.

Khawaja, currently unbeaten on 69 and having edged past England's Zac Crawley (480) as the series' leading run-scorer, is just seven runs short of becoming the oldest Australian since Sir Donald Bradman to score 500 runs in an Ashes series,.

A 39-year-old Bradman scored 508 runs in Australia's legendary Invincibles tour of the UK in 1948, and 36-year-old Khawaja needs 16 runs to pass that tally on day five as his side pursues a target of 384 on a pitch that, according to batting coach Michael Di Venuto, is holding up nicely.

"I don't expect it to deteriorate too much tomorrow," Di Venuto said. "Maybe some turn, but other than that, it's still very good for batting."

Khawaja is the 21st Australian to post 5,000 Test runs and in some ways among the most unlikely, given even he had considered his Test career to be finished after he was axed from the side during the 2019 Ashes. At that point, he had scored 2,887 runs from 44 Tests.

His recall at the beginning of 2022 triggered a remarkable late-career renaissance, in which he has piled on 2,114 runs at 62.17 from 22 Tests, with seven centuries – all since turning 35.

Khawaja played three Ashes Tests on the 2013 tour as a 26-year-old, and another three as a 32-year-old in 2019, and averaged 19.66 from those six matches. With the benefit of that experience, he tempered expectations in the lead-in to this tour, despite his prolific form.

"England is, in my opinion, the toughest place in the world to bat for a top three batsman, plain and simple," Khawaja said. "New ball is tough work, but then you get some (weather) conditions, and it's a bit of luck involved in it, too; sometimes you get the other team out, then suddenly the clouds roll over ... other times you're out there and it's nice and sunny.

"If I've learned anything, it's work hard, train hard, (and) if you're going to England, go with low expectations, and then just work on every game one at a time, because you are going to fail as a batsman. But when you do score, you try to cash in as much as you can."

Khawaja began the Ashes with a match-winning double of 141 and 65 at Edgbaston, added a fine 77 at Lord's and has passed 40 in six of 10 innings through the series.

Should he reach 76 in this innings, he would join Steve Smith (twice) as just the second Australian this century to score 500 runs in an away Ashes series.

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Match drawn

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood