Australia’s Usman Khawaja ranks England because the hardest place for high order batters and can head to the Ashes with low expectations after struggling on earlier excursions.
Khawaja has a batting common of 19.66 from six Tests in England, lower than half his profession common of 47.81, and was dropped after three matches of the 2019 Ashes, which Australia drew 2-2 to retain the urn.
“England is, in my opinion, the toughest place in the world to bat for a top three batters, plain and simple,” Khawaja instructed Australian media.
“New ball is tough work, but then you get some (weather) conditions, and it’s a bit of luck involved in it, too.
“If I’ve learned anything, it’s work hard, train hard, (and) if you’re going to England, go with low expectations … work on every game one at a time, because you are going to fail as a batsman.
“But when you do score, you try to cash in as much as you can.”
Khawaja was hardly alone in struggling for runs on the high of the order in 2019, with staff mate David Warner averaging 9.50, the worst ever common by an opener to play 10 innings in a sequence.
Dropped after the Leeds Test in 2019, Khawaja was not recalled till the fourth Test of the final Ashes in Australia in 2021-22, which the hosts received 4-0.
The trendy lefthander scored twin centuries batting at quantity 5 in that Sydney match and has since been a fixture in Australia’s Test setup.
“I feel like I’m a better player than I was 10 years ago,” stated the 36-year-old.
“But … there’s no guarantees – (James) Anderson, (Stuart) Broad, they’re unbelievable bowlers, they’re tough work at the start.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com