Usman Khawaja - Score and Soar!

Usman Khawaja joined rarefied company with backtoback centuries in the Sydney Test on Saturday but said he doesnrsquot expect it will be enough to keep his place in the Australia team for the final Ashes encounterThe stylish 35yearold lefthander joined Australian batting greats Doug Walters and Ricky Ponting as scorers of two centuries in a Sydney Test with his 137 and unbeaten 101 though conceded it would not be enough to hold his place for the fifth Test in HobartThe tourists got to the close without losing a wicket for 30 with Zak Crawley on 22 not out and Haseeb Hameed on eight They trail by 357Pakistanborn Khawaja only came into the side for isolating Covid victim Travis Head and he made full use of his opportunity with fairytale twin centuriesCaptain Pat Cummins has already guaranteed Head will regain his place for Hobart and there have been suggestions it will be at the expense of Marcus Harris who again missed an opportunity to cement his berth in the Sydney TestNo comparisonldquoTo be totally honest Irsquove batted at No5 in this Test match and it was a lot of fun I got runs but you canrsquot really compare five to openingrdquo he saidldquoItrsquos like apples and oranges I know because Irsquove done both of them I came in here for Travis Head hersquos had a great series and I know the selectors have made a lot of tough decisions in this series and I donrsquot really expect it to be any different because I scored backtoback tonsldquoItrsquos just the way it is All Irsquove done is Irsquove had an opportunity for Australia scored some runs which I am grateful for The hunger is still there Irsquove shown that I can still score runs at this level if an opportunity does present itself in the futurerdquoKhawaja has delighted cricket watchers with his fluent strokeplay and has been the major reason why England face an againsttheodds challenge of chasing down 388 runs in the final innings on Sundayrsquos final dayKhawajarsquos unbeaten ton came off just 131 balls with 10 fours and two sixes and he reached triple figures with a powerful pull shot through midwicketlsquoItrsquos specialrsquoldquoI always wanted to score a century in both innings in firstclass cricket and have never done it but itrsquos just a nice one to tick offrdquo Khawaja saidldquoIt puts the team in a position where hopefully we can try win a Test match tomorrow It all worked out pretty well it doesnrsquot always happen in life in cricket itrsquos specialrdquoIt is his 10th Test century and third against Englandmdashall of which have come at the SCG The only other Australian cricketer with three Ashes centuries at the SCG is the legendary Victor TrumperThe languid Khawaja has in one Test scored more runs than all of Englandrsquos batsmen apart from captain Joe RootHe toyed with the England bowling with his hundred flowing off 138 balls laced with 10 fours and two sixes He had solid support from Green who registered his second Test halfcentury with a confidenceboosting 74 before he topedged Jack Leach to Joe RootAlex Carey surprisingly came out to bat and was out first ball to Leach signalling the longawaited declaration by skipper Pat Cummins Leach finished with 484 off 215 overs Khawaja and Green rebuffed Englandrsquos efforts after the loss of key batsmen David Warner Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith to have the Australians at 86 for fourSmith again failed to get going in a 31ball stay and was bowled for 23 after he was late on the shot from a Leach skidder So far in the series Smith has scored a total of 217 runs after scoring 93 in the second Adelaide TestThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever