Just when things had finally started to look good for the visitors on Day 4 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, England’s hopes of having just one good day at the Ashes were ripped apart to shreds.
Joe Root’s men, after their debacle in the first three Tests finally looked like putting up a fight, courtesy, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood’s incredible partnership on Day 3 of the fourth Test. After putting up a total that was close enough to what they would have thought safe, England struck blows after blows straight into the heart of the Australian batting line up. In no time, Australia were four down within 90 runs with their entire top order back in the hut. Wood was dealing blows close to 150ks per hour and Jack Leach was beating the Aussies in flight.
But that was it. That was just about it.
Since the start of the tour, all England have wanted is one normal day in their lives. Their preparation for the tour was a mess with uncertainties floating around player availability due to strict Covid policies in Australia. Once they arrived, their preparation was hit by a massive storm which forced them to stay indoors. And since taking the field, stuff has gone through the roof for Root and his men.
After all that toil, just when things seemed to be falling into play early on Day 4, the threat arrived from the most unlikeliest of places. Out of favour left hander, playing his first Test match after two years, Usman Khawaja scored his second century of the game.
One would have thought that a man making his comeback under pressure would be content after making a century in the first innings, but clearly they were wrong. Not only did Khawaja make a hundred, he made it at such a rapid rate that England were blow away from the game in just one session of play. Khawaja, batting with the young Cameron Green put up a partnership of 179 runs in just 238 balls. They together scored at a SR of 75.2 on a fourth day SCG pitch, after an awful period of play from the Australians.
England found the change of momentum difficult to comprehend as James Anderson and Stuart Broad, two of their most experienced bowlers, went wicketless throughout the second innings.
The England bowlers looked in dire state in front of Khawaja’s movement that at times reminded the commentators of Brain Lara at times. Khawaja swept, reverse swept and at times danced down the track to slap the ball through the on side, and amongst all this chaos, stood still the hanging head of Joe Root, standing at slips.
Khawaja became the third person after Ricky Ponting and Doug Walters to score twin hundreds at the SCG and now has more runs than his closest competitor Marcus Harris having played 5 innings less than him. It became apparent in just four days that Khawaja belongs, and belongs in a way that Australia would not have thought was possible having backed Harris throughout the current campaign.
At the end of day 4, England might not have lost a single wicket chasing a steep 388, but they are clearly not in a position to win this Test match. They would come out again tomorrow hoping to survive what could possibly be a rain affected day. In that case, the crowd, the fans and the experts would rightly be left with the one and the only important talking point of this Test match - Usman Khawaja.
Could this possibly cement his place in the Australian Test squad? Time will tell… But SCG will forever remember the smiling assassin, who knocked his critics out of the park making a comeback after two years for the prestigious Baggy Green.