Usman Khawaja once again turned Australia's saviour as he scripted history with a scintillating century on Day 2 of the Ashes 2023 series opener against England at Edgbaston on Saturday (June 17). Khawaja cracked his 15th Test century and apparently his first ton on English soil. The 36-year-old also shattered 139-year-old record as it was the first instance in these many years that a non Australia born opener scored a century in away Ashes match.
Notably, back in 1884 Kennington, London-born Australian batter Percy McDonnell scored century in the Kennington Oval.
The Islamabad, Pakistan-born Khawaja cracked 107 off 217 balls as of 78 overs and steady Australia's boat from precarious 148/4 to 239/5. He belted 12 fours and two maximums in his spellbinding knock.
Let's have a look at the list of Usman Khawaja's Test centuries on different countries
9 hundreds in Australia.
2 hundreds in Pakistan.
1 hundred in England.
1 hundred in India.
1 hundred in New Zealand.
1 hundred in UAE.
Khawaja rose to the occasion when Australia were reeling after the early dismissals of their top-order batters. It was Khawaja who combined with Travis Head to muster valuable runs for Australia. The star Australian opener looked at ease and stitched a crucial 81-run partnership with Head for the fourth wicket. Head slammed an aggressive half century before losing his wicket to Moeen Ali. Head took 63 balls to complete his half-century which was studded with 8 fours and a maximum.
Earlier, Warner (9), Labuschagne (0) were undone by Stuart Broad on successive deliveries of 11th over. Smith was trapped in front by England captain Ben Stokes.
England had declared their innings after scoring 393/8 on the opening day, with Joe Root slamming a hundred. Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow amassed fifties for the hosts.
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