Australian cricket legend Ian Chappell has hit Usman Khawaja with a brutal takedown in the aftermath of his consecutive Sheffield Shield centuries, which have seen the veteran re-emerge as a contender for the Ashes.
Khawaja hasn’t added to his 44 Tests since being dropped after the third match of Australia‘s 2019 Ashes tour of England, but the 34-year-old has reached triple figures against both South Australia and Tasmania over the last fortnight, in a push for a national recall.
The left-hander registered 174 from 294 against the Redbacks at Adelaide Oval, before compiling 119 from 184 against the Tigers in Townsville.
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The rich vein of form has led former Australia captain Mark Taylor to declare in an interview with Wide World of Sports that Khawaja is one of two men, along with Travis Head, deserving of batting at five in the first Ashes Test.
Will Pucovski’s latest concussion has also prompted widespread calls for Khawaja to open with David Warner.
But Chappell, who captained Australia in 30 of the 75 Tests he played between 1964 and 1980, has cast enormous doubt over Khawaja’s ability against top-quality bowling.
Khawaja averages a healthy 40.66 from his 44 Tests, but he averaged just 20.33 over the first three matches of the 2019 Ashes, mustering scores of only 13, 40, 36, two, eight and 23 before being cut from the XI.
“I think everyone knows Usman Khawaja can make hundreds against that standard of bowling,” Chappell said of Khawaja’s Sheffield Shield tons in an interview with Wide World of Sports.
“But I’m not convinced that he’s going to make it against an England attack.”
Khawaja’s first century of the summer came against a South Australia attack led by Daniel Worrall, Brendan Doggett, Nathan McAndrew, David Grant and Lloyd Pope.
The Queensland batter then scored a century against a Tasmania bowling unit consisting of Riley Meredith, Gabe Bell, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tom Andrews, Beau Webster and Jarrod Freeman.
While a stress fracture means dangerous quick Jofra Archer won’t tour Australia for the Ashes, England will still have James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes at their disposal.
“I really think his horse has bolted,” Chappell said of Khawaja.
“Well, he would have in my books. So, I don’t really see a spot there for him. But the selectors may.
“I’m not convinced that Khawaja is a good enough player… Khawaja’s a good player against mediocre bowling, but against good bowling I don’t think there’s much future there.”
Chappell said he would opt for Pucovski as Warner’s opening partner and, in the event of the 23-year-old prodigy being ruled unavailable due to his concussion, that he’d pick Marcus Harris to retain his position at the top of the order.
But Chappell was far from confident in throwing up Harris as Pucovski’s back-up, labelling Australia’s second opening position “a black spot”.
Harris averages just 23.77 from 10 Tests and is yet to notch a century.
Chappell says Australia’s Test batting stocks are being hamstrung by a lack of Sheffield Shield success among the country’s emerging crop.
“The concern is that you look through the last two or three seasons of Shield cricket and, apart from Cameron Green and Will Pucovski, there’s no real young blokes pushing and making a lot of runs,” Chappell said.
“And when you consider that the Test players are virtually never there, there’s a terrific opportunity to make a lot of runs, and yet none of what you would hope would be the next generation have come through.”
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