Usman Khawaja has made a dream comeback to Test cricket, scoring centuries in both innings of the ongoing fourth Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He is also only the ninth player to score centuries in both innings of an Ashes Test. The last to achieve the feat was Steve Smith, in 2019, when scored twin 140-plus scores in Birmingham. Khawaja reached the three-figure mark for the second time in the fourth Test on Day four on Saturday as Australia set England a target of 388 to win.
Khawaja, who last played a Test during the 2019 Ashes tour of England, made a huge impact on his return, scoring 137 in the first innings as Australia posted 416/8. He is also only the third batter after Doug Walters (vs West Indies in 1968/69) and Ricky Ponting (vs South Africa in 2005/06) to score twin tons at SCG.
"No, not really. I don't think it's sunk in yet," Khawaja said in the presser.
"I've always wanted to score a century in both innings in first-class cricket and never done it. I wasn't really sure if I was gonna do it. It didn't really matter to me, now that I've played so long. I'm like it's not the end of the world. Not a big deal, but it's just a nice tick off and has put the team in a situation where hopefully we can try to win. Look, it all worked out pretty well. it doesn't always happen in life and cricket. It's special," he added.
He also shared a stand of 179 with Cameron Green to prop up Australia's innings after they had found themselves in a spot of bother at 86 for 4. This is the second-highest fifth-wicket stand in the Ashes after the fall of the first four wickets for less than 100 runs. Matthew Elliott and Ponting added 268 after Australia were four wickets down for 50 runs at Headingley in 1997. Khawaja praised the all-rounder and said that he tried to help him through the early phase of his innings.
"It was awesome, he batted beautifully. Greeny scores so many runs against Queensland, I hate playing against him in Shield cricket. I was just talking to him as much as I could, just about what we're trying to do out there. He was talking about spin and I was telling him what options I thought he should take. Just try to give him reassurance especially at the start. You could tell he's a little bit nervous at the start - and just trying to give him reassurance of what he needs to do," the 35-year-old said.
