Usman Khawaja will have a niggling back spasm checked out this week, while Australia’s brains trust weighs up whether Travis Head’s whirlwind hundred in Perth calls for a shift at the top of the order ahead of the second Ashes Test in Brisbane.
Cricket Australia’s medical staff are due to examine Khawaja after he was forced down the list – and, at one stage, off the field – during the two-day win. The 38-year-old faced only one innings and grassed a slip chance before the pain became too much.
Coach Andrew McDonald confirmed more tests are on the way. “There was discussions around further investigation to whether it was more serious than what we sort of first anticipated,” he said. “So we’ll work through that. We’ll get a squad together. We’ll step through everything that we normally step through.”
McDonald hopes the opener will still front up at the Gabba. “We get to camp in six days’ time… hopefully Usman is fit and available for selection,” he added, before noting that back spasms rarely appear out of nowhere. “I think anytime you spasm, it’s a result of something going on in your back … He hasn’t had it before, so that’s what will probably entail a bit more further investigation. My gut feel is that it should be okay, but, as I said, we’ll wait for that information to present.”
Age factor dismissed
Khawaja might be Australia’s senior batter, yet McDonald rebuffed any suggestion mileage is the root cause. “These things can happen,” he said. “And I don’t think you can join the dots to something around his age. I think it’s just one of those things that’s happened.”
The left-hander’s pre-match routine included three rounds of golf – 54 holes in all – but the coach, echoing Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg, pointed out this is far from unusual for Khawaja and has never caused issues previously.
Head’s century sparks debate
While Khawaja rested, Head tore into England’s attack, smashing a 69-ball century that flipped a tight contest into a romp. It was the fastest Ashes ton by an Australian and came from the unfamiliar role of emergency opener.
Asked if the stand-in slot could become permanent, McDonald admitted the door is ajar. “We’ve got a lot to consider,” he said. “Batting orders are always debated heavily over a period of time. Middle-order players haven’t been sort of the ones that have been the popular ones to open the batting. So we’ll discuss and work through what it looks like.
“I think it gave us a little bit of a lens potentially to the future in terms of adjusting batting orders in second innings … This one happened probably through a bit more chance and obviously the unfortunate injury to Usman. But I think it really probably opens up that discussion more than, more than anything.”
Selectors Pat Cummins, George Bailey and McDonald himself must also weigh freshness. The first Test wrapped up inside 157 overs, giving bowlers and batters alike a lighter workload but leaving limited time for Khawaja’s rehabilitation.
What next?
Khawaja is expected in Brisbane by the weekend, scans in hand. If cleared, he walks back in. If not, Head, Cameron Green or even a specialist reserve could find themselves ushered to the top.
Either way, Australia know a 1-0 lead can vanish quickly, especially if an unsettled order runs into a pink ball under the Gabba lights. For now, though, calm words trump hype. There is, as McDonald conceded, “a lot of information to gather” before the second Test team sheet is inked in.
