“Nineteen wickets on the first day and about 20 people got hit, that’s a great wicket – that seems real fair,” Khawaja said at an event for his Usman Khawaja Foundation, a charity which helps support children from diverse, rural and low socio-economic backgrounds.
“The same thing happened last year in the Indian Test, it’s just that day one wicket, the ball just does not react. Steve Smith’s by far the best cricketer I’ve ever played with and he’s missing the middle of his bat by a long way – he does not miss the middle of his bat. He’s getting hit in the elbow, he’s getting hit.”
“You can’t really predict up and down. Up and down is the hardest – sideways is a little bit easier but up and down your hands can’t catch up. So day one wicket at [Perth] is a piece of s***, I’m happy to say that. It has been last year, it was this year.
“They do get better. Day two, day three, and then day four, they start to crack up.”
Quite what conditions will be served up for the day-night Test at the Gabba remain to be seen, but Khawaja was confident he would be able to take his place in the XI although Travis Head’s spectacular 123 in his absence has sparked a debate about which way Australia should go.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’d never experienced it before, but the last few days have been good. I’ve never had back spasms before, so it’s been quite new for me. I’ve been quite lucky. I’m 39 years old [on December 18] and have always had a pretty solid back. Rachel, my wife, has been taking care of me – she’s been letting me sleep in a fair bit actually, I’ve really been taking advantage of it. I should be right.”
Recounting the events of the opening day in Perth, which at one stage saw Smith frantically waving to the dug out, Khawaja said he was trying all he could to be available to open.
“I went off knowing I still wanted to open; I don’t want to bat anywhere else,” Khawaja said. “I went off, and I think they [England] were six down, and we just went bang, bang, wicket.
“I rushed back on, and then we take the next two wickets. That was the frustrating part for me, but I had no other option. I had anti-inflammatories, really strong ones. I had real strong painkillers all through that time – even in the morning – and got myself to a place where I could actually field again.”
Khawaja revealed the lengths he was ready to go to in case he was needed to bat during the chase, but Head’s onslaught made it a moot point. “I’m really glad that we got [the match] done that night, because the next day, I already had the radiology booked,” he said. “I was going to get an epidural in my back, so I can actually move somewhat. I had it booked in, ready to go, so if the team needed me, I was there again.”
