Former Australian captain Steve Waugh has backed southpaw Usman Khawaja, and said that the talented batsman should straightaway be in the playing XI for the Boxing Day test against the West Indies. Khawaja had been in sparkling form when he scored two back to back tons against New Zealand, before an injury ruled him out of the day and night test.
“If Usman is fit, assuming he is, he’s got to come back in,” Waugh said. “That’s not nailed down, but he has two hundreds in his last two Test matches, so you’d imagine he comes back in.” “So it’s probably a shootout between Joe Burns and Shaun Marsh,” Waugh said. “Someone will be very unlucky, but it’s a good position to be in, we’ve got lots of good players there now scoring runs. “It’s going to be tough on one of those guys.”
“He’s done really well there and Khawaja, I think, can slot anywhere in the top three. “Obviously it’s a big decision to make and I’ll back whatever the selectors decide,” said Australia’s captain Steve Smith. “We play our best when we don’t think about personal milestone and try to drive the game as much as possible,” Smith said.
“I spoke to Voges at lunch, he was 269, I said, ‘Do you want to have quick crack?’ but he said to just do what’s best the team. That’s the kind of guy he is, he’s great around the group and always wants the team to do well,” said Smith, stressing that the team cause was more significant than individual milestones.