Cricket Australia has cited back spasms as the reason for Usman Khawaja’s costly absence from the field which has been blasted as “beyond a joke”.
After official word initially came through that he had needed “toilet breaks and stretching”, CA later claimed he had suffered a back spasm despite only fielding at first slip for the few hours of the match.
Former Australia allrounder Tom Moody in ABC commentary was bemused by the team’s poor attention to detail in getting Khawaja back onto the field in time so that he could open the innings.
Because he had to sit out the first 10 minutes of Australia’s response to England’s 174, Marnus Labuschagne was thrust into an opener’s spot and Steve Smith then needed to come in at three when debutant Jake Weatherald was dismissed in the first over by Jofra Archer.
“I’m stunned. To gamble on the fact that he could come back on the field when England is eight down (is a major risk),” Moody said.
“That is beyond a joke. He is our most experienced top-order player and we needed Khawaja at the front to lead the batting unit into this series.
“You do not take the risk knowing you’re right on the cusp of bowling England out.”
Former Test captain Ricky Ponting was not impressed by the mixed messaging coming out of the Australian camp about the 38-year-old opener.
“We’ve heard different messages. The first time we heard it was a toilet break and that was 30 minutes,” he said on Seven commentary.
“So, there’s already different messages coming out of the Australian camp about the reason he was off.
“I saw Steve Smith gesturing toward the dressing room saying ‘where is he? We’ve got to get him back on.’ They took 5-12 in a short period of time and they’ve obviously been caught off guard which is the last thing that Marnus wanted, the last thing that Jake wanted.
“Jake Weatherald would have been forging a relationship with Usman all week to build up and face his first ball in Test cricket. That was all taken away.”
Ponting added that hopefully “we get the true story of about what actually happened with Khawaja”.
Mitchell Starc, whose seven-wicket haul had put Australia in a position of strength before the batting collapse, was unaware of the drama unfolding over Khawaja as he polished off England’s tail.
“I didn’t know about it until the ninth wicket, when he still had maybe 10 minutes or so, because he spent time off the field,” he said.
“I think he had a back spasm there the second time he came off.
“So we got caught off guard a little bit with obviously the wickets falling pretty quickly at the back end there.
“It was just unfortunate that was the case. He’ll manage that overnight and see how we are tomorrow.”
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments