Australia seize control on back of Khawaja brilliance

A stunning century by Usman Khawaja in a return to Test cricket that seemed scarcely plausible a week ago has added another chapter to the book of Boy's Own tales being written through Australia's ongoing Ashes dominance.

In Brisbane it was Pat Cummins' fairytale finish to an unexpected captaincy debut; in Adelaide (where Steve Smith stepped so seamlessly back into the captaincy) it was Jhye Richardson's five-wicket bag after a long injury lay-off; and Melbourne still echoes with chants for Scott Boland.

On a day for returning veterans, when Stuart Broad underscored the folly of being overlooked for two of the first three Vodafone Ashes Tests by claiming England's first five-for of the campaign, Australia stretched their first innings to a daunting 8(dec)-416 on a challenging SCG pitch.

By stumps, England had reduced that deficit by 13 without loss although out-of-form opener Zak Crawley was gifted a reprieve before he had scored when he edged a Mitchell Starc thunderbolt to David Warner at slip only for closer inspection to reveal the fast bowler had overstepped.

With thunderstorms forecast for Sydney over coming days their wretched tour to date might be temporarily saved by manna from the heavens.

If rain doesn't intrude, England will need to find someone capable of a Khawaja-like innings which is a huge ask given none of their batters have posted a century across the first three Tests.

With wife Rachel and 18-month-old daughter watching from the grandstand, Khawaja brought the SCG crowd to their feet when he reached the milestone on the cusp of tea on day two.

The 35-year-old credits his family and the serenity they helped him find since losing his place in the Test line-up more than two years ago as key to keeping his cricket fortunes in perspective.

But even allowing for the vicissitudes of selection he's ridden over recent years, Khawaja could never have foreseen the circumstances that led to his return with incumbent number five Travis Head ruled out after a positive COVID-19 test last week having been player of the match in the Vodafone Series opener.

Australia captain Pat Cummins declared at yesterday's coin toss that Head would return for the final Test in Hobart next week, but that no longer seems quite so straightforward.

Khawaja's 137 in almost seven hours of batting was his first Test hundred since his unbeaten 101 against Sri Lanka in Canberra six months before he was dropped from the team in 2019.

It was also his highest Test score since he made 171 in the corresponding Sydney Test of the previous home Ashes campaign four years ago to the day.

But that knock came on a vastly different SCG pitch, with the current track at Khawaja's former home ground proving a markedly more challenging batting surface than when Australia rattled up 7(dec)-649 in 2018.

Similar to the MCG last week, the grass cover offers assistance to new-ball bowlers as shown by Broad's purple patch today when he accounted for Steve Smith (67) and Cameron Green (5) within eight overs of the second new ball being taken.

As Australia opener David Warner noted after day one, there are also visible cracks appearing in the dry, hard surface and if England's fielding was sharper it might have been slow bowler Jack Leach who claimed his team's most important breakthrough.

Khawaja was on 28 from 93 balls faced and battling to build rhythm in his innings after a couple of morning rain interruptions when a rare false stroke yielded an outside edge that deflected from keeper Jos Buttler to Joe Root at slip.

Root's reflexes were sharp, but the slight deviation in the ball's trajectory caused a minor misjudgement that saw it hit the England skipper's right hand and bounce out before the relieved batter jogged through for a single.

That reprieve completed a costly half hour before lunch for the tourists, when Root's decision to unleash a bouncer barrage against Khawaja and Smith that saw neither batter dismissed but the attack weapon used for the strategy – all-rounder Ben Stokes – injured in the process.

Stokes was near completion of the fourth over of his high-exertion spell of relentless short-pitched bowling when he clutched at his left side and immediately headed for the dressing room.

He returned shortly after lunch with a diagnosis of "left side tightness" but also a caveat he wasn't expected to return to the bowling attack for at least the remainder of today.

In his absence, and with Leach rarely looking to threaten after inducing an error for Khawaja, Root was forced into high rotation of his remaining quicks with a few interludes of part-time relief from his own off-spin and fellow part-timer Dawid Malan's leggies.

Root might have succeeded where Leach repeatedly failed – he snared Alex Carey when the Australia keeper aimed a slog-sweep despite the footmarks developing outside the left-handers' off-stump and skied a catch – but it was to Broad he repeatedly turned, and with good reason.

England batting coach Graham Thorpe had likened Broad to a "caged tiger" prior to the fourth Test beginning after the veteran quick was overlooked for the first and third games of the series, and he brought a sense of brooding malevolence every time he took the ball.

It's likely some of that discontent was fermented while the 35-year-old sat on the sidelines as his rival fast bowlers feasted on helpful pitches at the Gabba and MCG.

Broad's 5-101 from 29 overs lifted him to 125 Test wickets against Australia, with only fellow quicks Ian Botham (148) and Bob Willis (128) with more for England in Ashes contests.

Having continued his dominance over Warner yesterday, Broad removed Smith with a delivery that leaped from the pitch to the surprise of the Australian and then had Green pushing hard forward and edging low to third slip, to the surprise of nobody.

Green's already lean series became even more meagre with his Ashes aggregate now 57 runs (at average of 14.25) from his five innings to date as he battles to overcome technical troubles that England are ruthlessly exploiting.

If only the tourists could come up with similarly effective plans to subdue the players either side of Green in the Australia batting line-up.

Initially today, it seemed the most probable way of removing Smith was to summon light drizzle, so keen was the former skipper to vacate the field at the slightest sprinkling of rain.

Three times in the first two hours this morning, Smith was headed for the sheds even before the fleet-of-foot ground staff had made it to the middle to rip out the stumps in preparation for covers being laid.

The last of those interruptions saw bemused England fielders remain in their positions while the ex-captain stood beneath the shelter of the SCG's member's pavilion peering ruefully at the sky like a golfer camped beneath a tree as an electrical storm rages nearby.

The fact that delay spanned three minutes and did not allow time for protective hessian to be rolled over the pitch before the rain abated suggested the tourists' stoicism was not simply for show.

But their frustration at seeing three breaks but no breakthroughs in the morning session after their bowlers had fought to bring them back to even terms before rain intervened on Wednesday would only grow as Khawaja took charge, and Australia regained control.

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