Khawaja’s personal story might be heart-warming but what it demonstrates for Australia is a more telling one. That the host’s sixth-choice top-five batter can so comfortably reach a century, while Australia’s fast-bowling depth has reeled out consecutive five-wicket hauls for its second string attack, is in stark contrast to England’s own red-ball stocks. If we talk about Khawaja’s understanding of his own game, we should perhaps talk about his age too. England have it all the wrong way around; they rely on veteran fast bowlers to keep England’s injury-stricket attack alive, while shoving a conveyor belt of young twenty-somethings into the bright cauldron of Ashes cricket.
At 35, Khawaja now might hope for some years yet in the Test arena. After his Sydney century he will surely be on the plane for Australia’s string of away series on the sub-continent, as they travel to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and then India. And he can look to a strong legacy of recent Australian batters who have flourished well into their thirties. Chris Rogers, for example, played 24 of his 25 Tests, and scored all five of his Test centuries, beyond the age of 35. Meanwhile, England persevere with the trial and much error of their fresh young batters, the Zak Crawleys, Haseeb Hameeds, Dan Lawrences and Dom Sibleys, chewing them up, hoping (wishing, praying?) that they’re the next Joe Root before spitting them out onto the growing pile of discards.
In getting it right, and trusting the process, with patience and perseverance, Australia are nurturing a legacy of red-ball devotees. For English kids watching on, you wonder why they’d ever play red-ball cricket. The only men scoring runs in Australia are the handful who have smashed it around in the Big Bash League; on the day that England were bowled out for under 100 in Melbourne, three English batters had won the player-of-the-match award in the previous seven BBL matches.
For Australia, by contrast, while their bowlers routinely concede 10-runs per over in the white-ball tournament, aired each evening following the day’s Test cricket (both on free-to-air television), they have had the terrific sight of Australia’s seam attack terrorising England to tune into instead. Want to be a bowler? Play Test cricket. And if you want to be a batter, you’ve got David, Marnus, Steve, Travis and now Usman demonstrating the rewards that long-form cricket can bring. Take your pick, here are your heroes.
