Eleven years on, Khawaja's SCG story again offers hope

In the end, the tense final afternoon of this fourth Vodafone Ashes Test was always going to have little relevance to the Usman Khawaja story that has emerged from it.

There was neat symmetry in Khawaja's memorable Sydney Cricket Ground performance; 11 years on from scoring a promising 37 at the same venue that offered a struggling Australian side hope for the future, his 137 and 101no as a 35-year-old in an Ashes domination has played no small role in shaping his legacy as a Test batter.

Which, if we're going there, is a complicated one – of class and courage, of struggles and evolution, and of opportunities missed, taken, and taken away.

For Khawaja though, whether he has liked it or not (and at different times, both have been the case), there has inherently been more at play. A wider legacy has awaited him.

Despite cries for the opposite, sports and politics have always collided. Anyone with a Twitter account, or even a television, knows that. At the SCG across these past five days, as the presence of a politician caused uproar and the performance of a player united, the collision has been as literal as ever.

Reflecting on the coverage of his debut some time later, Khawaja said he had been put off by being described as the first Muslim to play Test cricket for Australia, pointing out by way of example that no such singling out had ever been foisted upon Australia's first Catholic Test cricketer.

Khawaja hadn't wanted to be different. He had just wanted to be one of the boys. He had just wanted to be a cricketer.

Then a strange thing happened. An interstate move, and the natural maturation process that happens for most people through their 20s, helped Khawaja reassess. He realised he was fine with being different, be it with his religion or his dress sense. He turned and embraced it. If he wasn't pleasing himself, what did it matter if he was pleasing anyone else?

Australian society is still working its way through a similar identity crisis. But in the universal celebration of Khawaja's achievements in Sydney across these past few days, one factor has been conspicuous by its absence. Eleven years on from Australia's first Muslim Test debutant, amid countless words, both written and spoken, Khawaja's religion has barely rated a mention.

For the man himself, that is a win in the simple fact that his long-time presence alone has helped normalise his circumstance. One exception to that general rule – and it's a happy one – has been a view from the Muslim community that his achievements are not only inspiring youth but helping break down long-standing barriers in this country. It is another case of sport influencing and impacting where politics does not.

Khawaja gets it. Asked earlier today about the upcoming Test tour of Pakistan, for example, he explained how that could be viewed as a means of giving back to the sport; by committing themselves to such a tour, the Australian men's cricket team is inspiring the next generation of cricketers in a country that has been deprived of the game at international level for so long.

It is a worldly outlook that says a lot about the man and what he is trying to achieve. There was a time when he steered clear of topics like religion and race. That changed around the same time he began becoming more comfortable in his own skin. With acceptance of self, came an acceptance of responsibility. Now he has a Foundation and his own YouTube channel, while his influence within Queensland Cricket through almost a decade now has been evidenced through a pair of Marsh Sheffield Shield titles and a happy, progressive culture. Doubtless the Brisbane Heat would have loved to have secured his services when he made the move north from Sydney.

There is something in his loyalty to the Sydney Thunder, too, which represents an area that is among the country's most multicultural, with a significant presence of subcontinental expats. Khawaja has spoken proudly about the gradual progression of more players of subcontinental heritage through that Thunder pathway; Gurinder Sandhu, Arjun Nair, Jason Sangha and Tanveer Sangha among them.

It is all positive. So too is the Indigenous representation of Scott Boland in the men's Test team during the past fortnight, as well as the fact that Cricket Australia (CA) is committing to both areas of society with more thought and means than ever before.

Khawaja is part of that CA commitment. He feels he must be, for he sees the significant amount of work that still needs to be done, and knows he is in a better position than anyone to move mountains.

A lot of that will be quiet, industrious, and behind-the-scenes toil. At the SCG, through the two most special innings of his career, it was work to be celebrated by all.

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: Match drawn

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena