Usman Khawaja threw his bat into the air, let out a triumphant roar, and in a second 10 years of Ashes agony were released from his body.
The star of Australia’s second day at Edgbaston, Khawaja went to stumps unbeaten on 126 with the visitors 5-311 in reply to England’s 8(dec)-393.
Unique celebrations on reaching three figures are nothing new for Khawaja.
In his scintillating run since returning to the Test team as a 35-year-old last last year, Khawaja has done just about everything but raising the bat.
In the past, he’s celebrated half-centuries by dabbing, other centuries by dancing and has even impersonated Lebron James.
But even by his standards, Saturday’s response was unique.
After late-cutting Ben Stokes to the third-man boundary, Khawaja charged down the wicket, leapt, threw his bat in the air and yelled in celebration.
This one had been a long time coming.
Khawaja was dropped on the 2013 and 2019 Ashes tours, and wasn’t even picked for 2015.
There had been talk he couldn’t play in England, too susceptible to edging a swinging ball.
Before this innings, Khawaja had averaged 17.78 in the country.
“(The celebration) was a combination of three Ashes tours in England, being dropped in two of them,” Khawaja, with his three-year-old daughter Aisha next to him in the press conference, said.
“I’m getting sprayed by the crowd as I’m walking out there today and as I’m going to the nets they’re saying that I can’t score runs in England, so guess it was more emotional than normal.
“I feel like I’m saying this all the time, same thing happened in India.
“It’s not that I have a point to prove, but it’s nice to go out and score runs for Australia just to show everyone that the last 10 years haven’t been a fluke.”
Khawaja has proven time and time again he is a new man in the past 18 months since his recall at the SCG in January 2022.
He has averaged 69.88 since that point, hit seven centuries and answered his critics in Asia and now in England.
The opener barely offered an edge across the six-and-a-half hours he has spent at the crease.
He has pulled anything short, driven through the covers with precision and taken on Moeen Ali with glee in his 14 boundaries and two sixes.
Khawaja couldn’t bear to look at photos from his last tour of England once. Now he is in a position to make his final trip to the country for Test cricket a big one.
— AAP
