Usman Khawaja has shown why the Australian cricket team had such high hopes for his Sri Lanka tour, joining milestone man Steve Smith in scoring a century on a one-sided first day of the Test series in Galle.
Explosive new opener Travis Head (57 off 40 balls) silenced critics who wanted Sam Konstas to open before Khawaja (147no) and Smith (104no) forged an unbeaten 195-run stand that put Australia well on top of their error-prone hosts.
Australia were 2-330 on Wednesday when rain forced stumps to be called 20 minutes early at 4.40pm.
Smith became only the fourth Australian to reach 10,000 Test runs when he played a quick single to mid-on in the minutes before the lunch break.
For his part, 38-year-old Khawaja fired back at those who had questioned his Test future during a lukewarm home summer, raising his bat for a first ton since June 2023.
Khawaja had gone 33 innings without a Test century but has now breathed life into a Test career he recently insisted he had no immediate plans to end.
The veteran appeared content at stumps, having picked up where he left off following a dominant last subcontinent tour to India in 2023.
“I’m not here for anyone but the team,” Khawaja said.
“(Australia coach) Andrew McDonald, one thing last year he said to me, ‘I don’t care what happens, just make sure you’re on the Sri Lankan tour’.
“I’m not just playing cricket because I’ve got a gluttony to score lots of runs. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen hundreds is not going to make a difference to my life. When I finish this game, I’ve got beautiful kids and a family.
“I’m pretty chill with everything, but it’s nice to get 100 after the summer because it was a tough time.”
Sri Lanka wasted several chances hunting a breakthrough, notably declining to review appeals that would have dismissed Head LBW and Khawaja caught behind.
Khawaja was dropped twice behind the stumps either side of lunch, with Smith also put down by Prabath Jayasuriya (1-102) from his own bowling after the stand-in captain scored the one run he needed for his milestone.
Smith and Khawaja made their hosts pay, to the delight of a healthy Galle crowd comprising more Australian tourists than Sri Lankan locals.
Khawaja initially played the steady hand next to Head, who brought up his half-century in 35 balls – the equal sixth-fastest Test 50 by an Australian.
Usman Khawaja. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
But when the No.5-turned-opener holed out to long on, Khawaja took charge.
Khawaja flaunted his sweep shot on a slow pitch offering limited bounce and played Asitha Fernando past fine leg for four to bring up his 16th Test ton.
Smith belted the hot-and-cold legspinner for two fours past mid-wicket in three balls before he brought up a 35th Test century by running three from Nishan Peiris (0-93).
A pitch invader pulled focus from the moment in the middle, clad only in underpants and waving a lewd sign making reference to Travis Head’s surname.
The firepower could keep coming even if the hosts can break Smith and Khawaja’s partnership early on day two, with specialist Josh Inglis coming in at No.5 for his Test debut.
Josh Inglis would have hoped to spend his first day as a Test cricketer smacking bouncers to the boundary, but instead spent it swatting away Usman Khawaja’s jokes about his English heritage.
Yorkshire-born Inglis officially became Australia’s 470th Test cricketer in the series opener against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, some 15 years after his family emigrated to Perth.
Inglis’s partner, son and parents were in attendance as former Test batter and fellow West Australian Geoff Marsh presented him with his baggy green in an emotional pre-match ceremony in Galle.
“There’s been a lot of jokes, probably from me because I’m Pakistani, I like to joke about his heritage,” Khawaja said as Australia went to stumps at 2-330.
“I asked him if (Yorkshire cricket legend) Geoffrey Boycott was going to give him his hat today. Then we just started rattling off lots of Yorkshire players.”
No-one was immune to Khawaja’s jibes.
“I made a joke again when his dad was tearing up: ‘Is that because he’s not playing for England?’,” the opener said.
Behind the banter, Khawaja likely had the best understanding of the emotions the Inglis clan had been feeling, with his cricket-mad family also having moved to Australia during his childhood.
“I know what it meant for my dad when I played for Australia,” he said.
“Our dads, the ones that love cricket, the ones who are our heart and soul, all those Sundays and Saturdays that go into it. It’s very special.”
Inglis beat recent debutant Nathan McSweeney to the middle-order vacancy that opened when Head shifted to the top of the batting order.
The 29-year-old has been a regular member of Test squads in recent times as back-up wicketkeeper to Alex Carey and has played 55 white-ball matches for Australia.
Inglis has averaged 72.6 across three matches for Western Australia this summer and is known for his proficiency facing spin.
“He’s a terrific player. I look forward to seeing him bat out there because I think these conditions will very much suit him,” Khawaja said.
Australia went to stumps well in control of the first of two Test matches, but recent history has warned Khawaja against becoming complacent.
In the second Test of Australia’s last visit to Sri Lanka, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith each recorded first-innings centuries, only for Dinesh Chandimal to strike back with an unbeaten double hundred of his own.
On Test debut, off-spinner Prabath Jayasuriya came up with two six-wicket hauls as Sri Lanka defeated their guests by an innings and 39 runs.
“You never get ahead of yourself in Galle,” Khawaja said.
“We learned that last time, particularly in the second game, so we’ll be taking that into this game.”
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