Michael Clarke isn’t entirely sold on Usman Khawaja returning for next week’s Adelaide Test, even though the former captain reckons the selectors “will pick him”.
Khawaja sat out Brisbane after those troublesome back spasms flared in Perth. Travis Head and Jake Weatherald took advantage, stringing together partnerships of 75 in the Perth run-chase and 77 at the Gabba, setting Australia on course for a 2-0 Ashes lead. It leaves the panel with a pleasantly awkward call: stick with the form pair or recall the senior opener with 71 Tests behind him.
“I think the selectors will pick him,” Clarke told ESPN’s Around The Wicket. “I think he’ll be back at the top of the order. I don’t know if I would make a change, to be honest.
“I think I’ve said before, normally with senior players like that and certainly when you get to that age, you’re selected for big tournaments, either a World Cup or an Ashes series, and at the end of those, your time is done.
“Australia are 2-0 up. We’ve got someone at the top of the order that scored an unbelievable 100. I don’t know if they need to go back to that now. I know that might be hard on Uzzy because he’s had a wonderful career and been a big player.
“His spot wasn’t spoken about before a ball was bowled in this series, but things have changed. Australia’s dominating, their style of play is working, so I don’t know if I would go back to that.”
Greg Blewett, himself an ex-Test opener, is on the same page. “I’m keeping the batting order the same,” he told SEN. “I think that functioned really well up there for the second Test match so I’m not touching that, although if Usman Khawaja’s fit then they may bring him back, but I’m not touching it.”
Why the hesitation? Since the 2023 Ashes Khawaja’s returns have thinned—an average of 31.84, a single century in 45 innings. Hardly crisis numbers, but perhaps enough to test the ‘pick-and-stick’ mantra when the reserves are scoring freely.
Andrew McDonald has at least floated a workaround: drop Khawaja into the middle order. “He does have flexibility,” the head coach said last week. The idea isn’t outlandish; his 2022 comeback began at No. 5 in Sydney, where he peeled off twin hundreds before graduating to opener.
Queensland team-mate Matt Renshaw believes Khawaja could slide back down without fuss. “Uzzy is a world class player,” Renshaw told SEN Radio. “He can slot in anywhere – he’s an unreal player of spin and can face fast bowling. Head has been doing an amazing job as opener, so there is absolutely a role for Uzzy to play at five and he averages 250 batting at five in Test cricket.”
That 250 figure is inflated by a tiny sample—still, it underlines how swiftly Khawaja adapted two summers ago. The question is whether the selectors want to shuffle a middle order already functioning smoothly under Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, with Cameron Green offering balance at six.
Mike Hussey would rather keep it simple. “If you think about it, before the Ashes series started Khawaja was at the top of the order,” Hussey told News Corp. “Would that one innings change the whole mindset of the selectors?”
At 38, Khawaja is no long-term project, yet his calm at the top was a pillar of last year’s triumph in England. Test teams rarely enjoy the luxury of dropping proven run-makers simply because replacements have performed in limited opportunities. Equally, momentum—and the message it sends through the squad—counts for plenty.
Selection panels talk about “continuity” and “role clarity”, but there’s always a balancing act between loyalty and current output. With Australia 2-0 up, they can afford calculated tinkering; they can also afford to sit tight and reward the incumbents. Either way, Adelaide will offer a flat pitch, searing sun and, if recent history’s a guide, a decision that will be scrutinised ball by ball.
For now, Khawaja trains, the back reportedly settling. Head and Weatherald continue to pad up first in the nets. Whichever way the coin lands, the batting group looks stronger than it did a fortnight ago – a decent problem, if you’re in the business of winning Ashes series.
