Usman Khawaja mentioned the taunts of the Edgbaston crowd spurred him on to an “emotional” maiden Test hundred in England as he led Australia’s fightback within the Ashes opener on Saturday.
Australia have been reeling at 67-3 after Stuart Broad struck twice in two balls to take away David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, the world’s top-ranked Test batsman, earlier than England captain Ben Stokes captured the prize wicket of Steve Smith.
Yet they recovered to 311-5 at stumps on the second day, 82 runs behind England’s first-innings 393-8 declared, with left-handed opener Khawaja 126 not out.
Broad mentioned the depth of the event allied to a “soulless” pitch, contributed to a “frustrating day”.
“I’m not really a big no-ball bowler,” he advised the BBC.
“I have probably bowled more today than in a Test match day before. There’s no excuse.
“But it is the first innings of an Ashes Test match, you have some big emotions there so you are trying to gain energy from the surface and maybe pushing a little bit too hard.”
He addded: “It is certainly one of the slowest pitches I can remember bowling on in England … Hopefully it is not a trend for the whole series.” – AFP
Originally revealed as Ashes 2023: Follow all of the news and stay scores from day three in Edgbaston
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
