Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja
Personal information
Full name Usman Tariq Khawaja
Born (1986-12-18) 18 December 1986
Islamabad, Pakistan
Nickname Uzzie
Height 177.19 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Batting style Left hand bat
Bowling style Right arm medium
Role Batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 419) 3 January 2011 v England
Last Test 12 February 2016 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 199) 11 January 2013 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI 27 March 2016 v India
ODI shirt no. 1
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2007–2012 New South Wales (squad no. 18)
2011–2012 Derbyshire
2011–present Sydney Thunder (squad no. 18)
2012–present Queensland
2014-2015 Lancashire
2016–present Rising Pune Supergiants (squad no. 100)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 15 5 96 61
Runs scored 1,090 108 6,303 2,563
Batting average 49.54 27.00 42.58 46.60
100s/50s 4/3 0/1 17/30 8/14
Top score 174 50 214 166
Balls bowled – – 150 –
Wickets – – 1 –
Bowling average – – 98.00 –
5 wickets in innings – – – –
10 wickets in match – n/a – n/a
Best bowling – – 1/21 –
Catches/stumpings 11/– 2/– 71/– 25/–
Source: Cricinfo, 24 February 2016

Usman Tariq Khawaja (Urdu: عثمان خواجہ‎; born 18 December 1986) is a Pakistani-born Australian cricketer.

Domestic career

Khawaja in 2011

A left-handed top order batsman, Khawaja was awarded Player of the Australian Under-19 Championship in 2005 and also played for Australia in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as an opening batsman. His club side is Randwick Petersham Cricket Club.

He made his first class debut for the New South Wales Blues in 2008.[2] In the same year, he hit consecutive double centuries for the NSW Second XI—a feat never before achieved by a NSW player.[3] On 22 June 2010 it was announced by Cricket Australia that Usman Khawaja would be a part of the Australian touring squad to play Pakistan in a two Test series in England.

Khawaja plays for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League since 2011. In BBL05, he was the second highest run scorer (345 runs) and averaged 172.50 runs per match.

Khawaja signed a contract to play for county side Derbyshire in the 2011 English domestic season.[4] He played in four County Championship matches, averaging 39.87 with the bat and scoring a century (135) against Kent.[5][6] After his county stint, he made five further Test appearances in 2011, scoring one half-century (65) against South Africa. He was dropped from Australia's Test team after the home series against New Zealand, making way for Shaun Marsh upon Marsh's return from injury.[7]

Lancashire signed Khawaja as an overseas player for the 2014 county season for all formats. Khawaja scored 86 runs on his debut against Durham but in vain as Lancashire lost by 27 runs.

He plays his club cricket for Valley District Cricket Club in Brisbane.

International career

Khawaja was selected as part of the 17-man Australian squad for the 2010–11 Ashes series. During the third test, Ricky Ponting fractured his finger and Khawaja was named as a stand-by if Ponting could not recover in time. He was subsequently selected in the Australian cricket team to play England in the fifth Test against England in Sydney on 3 January 2011.[8][9] On 3 January 2011, Khawaja became the 419th Australian to be presented with an Australian Cricket Test baggy green cap. Khawaja became the first Muslim and first Pakistani-born Australian player to play test cricket for Australia,[10][11] and only the seventh foreign-born cricketer to do so in the last 80 years.[12]

Before the 3rd Test against India in March 2013, Australia suspended Khawaja, along with James Pattinson, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson following a breach of discipline.[13] Michael Clarke, the captain, revealed that the step had been taken as a result of repeated infractions which led to Watson flying back home and contemplating Test retirement.[14] Some former players reacted with astonishment at the decision taken by the team management.[15] Khawaja made his Test return in the second Test of the 2013 Ashes series, replacing Ed Cowan.

In his first Test in more than two years, he scored his maiden Test century, in the first Test against New Zealand on 5 November 2015, in which he scored 174 with 16 fours and 2 sixes. He made this return in his 10th Test in the coveted number 3 position, helping Australia to an emphatic victory.[16]

Since his return to Test cricket, Khawaja has scored 4 centuries in 6 matches.

He made his Twenty20 International debut for Australia against India on 31 January 2016.[17]

During the 2015/2016 season, Khawaja has been in spectacular form for Australia and his domestic T20 franchise the Sydney Thunder, with many pundits hailing his renaissance as a batsman since being dropped from the Australian team in 2013 and recovering from an injury in 2015.

International centuries

Test centuries

Usman Khawaja's Test centuries
# Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Year Result
1 174 10  New Zealand Australia Brisbane, Australia The Gabba 2015 Won[18]
2 121 11  New Zealand Australia Perth, Australia WACA Ground 2015 Drawn[19]
3 144 12  West Indies Australia Melbourne, Australia MCG 2015 Won[20]
4 140 14  New Zealand New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand Basin Reserve 2016 Won[21]

Personal life

Khawaja was born in Islamabad, Pakistan, and his family emigrated to New South Wales when he was a child. He became the first Muslim cricketer to represent Australia when he made his debut in the 2010–11 Ashes series. He is a qualified commercial and instrument rated pilot, completing a bachelor's degree in Aviation from the University of New South Wales before he made his Test debut. He attained his basic pilot licence before his driving licence.[22] He was educated at Westfields Sports High School.

Career best performances

Batting
Score Fixture Venue Season
Test 174 Australia v New Zealand The Gabba, Brisbane 2015/16 [23]
ODI 50 New Zealand v Australia Westpac Stadium, Wellington 2015/16 [24]
T20I 58 Australia v Bangladesh M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore 2015/16 [25]
FC 214 South Australia v New South Wales Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 2010/11 [26]
LA 166 Queensland v Tasmania North Sydney Oval, Sydney 2014/15 [27]
T20 109* Melbourne Stars v Sydney Thunder MCG, Melbourne 2015/16 [28]

References

  1. ↑ "Usman Khawaja". cricket.com.au. Cricket Australia. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Stevenson, Andrew (12 February 2008). "Sky is the self-imposed limit for Blues' Christian debutant". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  3. ↑ "Warner puts the Blues on notice as Australia put him on standby". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  4. ↑ "Usman Khawaja signs county deal". Herald Sun. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Khawaja agrees to Derbyshire return". ESPNcricinfo. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Kent v Derbyshire". www.sportinglife.com. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Australia batsman Ricky Ponting now likely to play through 2013 Ashes, News Limited's Malcolm Conn says". Fox Sports. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  8. ↑ Andrew Wu. "Ponting out, Khawaja in for Sydney Test". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  9. ↑ "Australia pick Usman Khawaja and Michael Beer for Test". BBC Sport. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  10. ↑ "Australians replace captain Ponting with first Muslim player". CNN. 31 December 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  11. ↑ Nicolussi, Christian (8 January 2011). "Andrew Hilditch keeps faith in NSW trio Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Phillip Hughes". Herald Sun. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  12. ↑ Pringle, Derek (2 January 2011). "The Ashes: Australia pin hopes on old and the new in Michael Beer and Usman Khawaja for Sydney Test". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  13. ↑ "Shane Watson one of four dropped by Australia for discipline breach". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  14. ↑ "Latest incident not isolated: Clarke". Wisden India. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  15. ↑ "Never heard anything so stupid: Mark Waugh". Wisden India. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  16. ↑ Brettig, Daniel (4 November 2015). "David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja dominant". Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "India tour of Australia, 3rd T20I: Australia v India at Sydney, Jan 31, 2016". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "1st Test: Australia v New Zealand at Brisbane, Nov 5-9, 2015 - Cricket Scorecard - ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "2nd Test: Australia v New Zealand at Perth, Nov 13-17, 2015 - Cricket Scorecard - ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "2nd Test: Australia v West Indies at Melbourne, Dec 26-30, 2015 - Cricket Scorecard - ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "1st Test: New Zealand v Australia at Wellington, Feb 12-16, 2016 - Cricket Scorecard - ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Pringle, Derek (3 January 2011). "The Ashes: Australia v England, fifth Test, day one lunch report". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  23. ↑ "1st Test: Australia v New Zealand Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  24. ↑ "Australia tour of New Zealand, 2015/16 Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  25. ↑ "21 March 2016 - World T20 - 22nd Match, Super 10 Group 2 - Australia v Bangladesh, 2015/16 Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  26. ↑ "Sheffield Shield, 2010/11 - SA v NSW Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  27. ↑ "Matador BBQs One-Day Cup, 2014/15 - QLD v TAS Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  28. ↑ "Big Bash League, 5th Match: Melbourne Stars v Sydney Thunder Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

External links

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