Usman Khawaja continued his resistance at the top of the order, taking 157 balls for his 47 runs on a gloomy and cloudy day at the Kia Oval on Friday, July 28 to become the most patient travelling opener in the country since 1990.
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Khawaja has now faced 1,118 balls in the series, the fifth-most* among overseas openers in England. The list is led by Mark Taylor, who faced 1,866 balls in six Test matches during the 1989 Ashes. He is followed by Bill Brown (1,221 in 1938), Sunil Gavaskar (1,199 in 1979) and Bill Ponsford (1,154 in 1934). With one innings left in the series, Khawaja could well go on to overtake Brown, if he faces 104 more balls.
Even if he doesn’t, his efforts will be spoken about for ages to come. Khawaja, who has 424 runs to show for his efforts at an average of 47.11, has proven to be a constant thorn for the England bowlers during the ongoing series. He faced an average of 223.6 balls per match, and 124 every innings, to negate the advantage the home side gets with the early wicket of his opening partner David Warner.
Warner averages 25 in the series and has faced 401 balls, at 45 every innings. As a result, Australia have not registered a single century stand for the opening wicket in the 2023 Ashes, while there have been six sub-50 run partnerships.
The woes are not limited to Warner alone. None of the other Australia batters, barring Mitchell Marsh, averages more than 36 either. No one else has faced more than 665 balls (Marnus Labuschagne) or made more runs. Khawaja was indeed the best batter for the side.
Comparing the number of deliveries that Khawaja has faced with the England players is not ideal, though a large sample will help establish the point. With the onset of Bazball and the focus on quick scoring instead of anchoring, scoring rates have shot up for the home team as the players take more risks than usual. Still, for the interested, Ben Stokes has faced the most deliveries from the England team (559), exactly half of Khawaja’s total tally, scoring 61 runs fewer than Khawaja.
The Australians adopted a contrasting approach in the series, sticking to a more conservative style of batting, especially evident on day two at the Kia Oval, when they crawled their way to 151-5 in 61 overs, with Khawaja striking at 30. Overall, he has a strike rate of 38, and Australia’s method has largely worked because Khawaja has stood tall, not only in this series but ever since he made his comeback.
Last year, Khawaja was recalled to the national team for the first time since August 2019, and there has been no looking back for him since then. Since his return, he has made 2,032 runs at an average of 63.50. No other batter in the world has made more runs since January 2022, and no player with 1,000 runs averages better. He has also arguably been Australia’s best batter in the past 18 months, and his heroics in England are a continuation of the grit he has displayed over the past year and a half.
Australia have played six Test series after the 2021/22 Ashes, four of which have come away from home. Khawaja was the top run-scorer in three of the four tours, against Pakistan, a very difficult tour of India, and now England. He narrowly missed out against Sri Lanka, finishing with 137 runs in four innings, behind Steve Smith’s 151.
Khawaja also tops the list of runs scored, balls faced and average amongst Australians in away series since 2022. He has made four hundreds and seven fifties in 25 innings, while none of his compatriots has made more than five fifty-plus scores away from home in this period.
The continuation of his form in the Ashes has already put him in the pantheon of greats. Only 14 Australian openers have faced over 1,100 deliveries during an Ashes series (12 if you consider series with five or fewer matches, eight for nine or fewer innings).
Among openers from both England and Australia this century, only Alastair Cook (1,438 balls in the 2010/11 Ashes) has faced more balls than him in an Ashes series. Counting batters in all positions, Khawaja is fifth on the list of most balls played during an England-Australia series. He could end in third place, behind Cook and Smith (1,416 balls in 2017/18).
Khawaja is also only the fifth to face 1,100 balls in an away bilateral Test series since the start of 2010. Though he averages the least among all on the list, Australia needed a player who could thwart the bowling even as the others struggled for consistency, which is exactly what Khawaja proceeded to do.
Before 2022, Khawaja averaged a little over 40 in the format, which has risen to 60.14 since his return. Pushing him up to open regularly has proven to be a successful gamble – he averages 60.28 at the top for his 2,291 runs – the highest among all Australia openers with 1,000 runs.
Warner has hinted at his retirement from the format after the series against Pakistan. The onus will be on Khawaja to continue his run as Australia look for replacements for a stalwart.
*where ball-by-ball data is available
