Oct 12th, 2018

Oct 12th, 2018

Australian cricket legend Ian Healy says the selectors who felt Usman Khawaja couldn’t play spin bowling “should give themselves an uppercut” following the drawn first Test against Pakistan in Dubai.

Khawaja played a career-defining innings of 141 that kept Pakistan at bay for nearly nine hours, saving Australia from a seemingly hopeless position.

The 31-year-old has struggled to shed the perception he couldn’t play spin bowling, with his nine previous Test innings in Asia yielding just 117 runs, before his man-of-the-match contributions of 85 and 141 to start a two-match series that comes in a time of transition for the Australian Test team.

Paksitan's DRS shocker

After struggling in Sri Lanka in 2016, he toured India in 2017 but was overlooked for all four Test matches, despite scoring heavily in Australia in the interim.

“I think the selectors should give themselves an uppercut for telling the world he couldn’t play spin a couple of years ago,” Healy told Wide World of Sports.

“It was quite unfair the way he was treated after the Sri Lankan tour in 2016, I would much rather they persisted with him in Asia and allowed him to develop rather than drop him.

“Instead of being constructive, they were destructive.

“It’s a great tribute to Usman that he was mentally strong enough to put that behind him and play as well as he did in this match.”

Healy labelled Khawaja “lazy” during the Ashes last summer, but explained this criticism was directed at the left-hander’s batting being too “one-paced” and “not batting with the versatility I know he’s got.”

“He’s along the lines of Mark Waugh,” Healy said.

“They make batting look easy and sometimes that means they make getting out look easy.”

Former skipper Mark Taylor says Khawaja’s epic hundred means he’s now ticked all the boxes, having also made a superb hundred in seam-friendly conditions against a high quality South African bowling attack in Adelaide in 2016.

“Just because at one stage of your career you’re not playing one type of bowling very well doesn’t mean you can’t improve,” Taylor told Wide World of Sports.

“You’re allowed to go away and get better and Usman obviously has.

Khawaja's wife moved to tears during epic innings

“He’s now made runs on green tracks against top quality pace attacks and now he’s scored runs on a turning pitch against the spinners.”

New skipper Tim Paine has made it clear he wants the team to regain the support of the Australian public, after the tumult of the ball-tampering scandal back in March. Taylor says a result such as this will go a long way towards getting the public back onside.

“I don’t believe Australian cricket has ever had a win at all costs attitude, but we want out team to fight to the very end.

“We want to know that every ball of every match means something to the players, and I think when you have a draw against the odds it shows the public how hard the players are prepared to fight.

“We want to see fight in our cricketers. That doesn’t mean we want to see it go too far, but we want them to take it to the very edge and compete strongly and fairly within the laws of the game.

Usman Khawaja celebrates his century. (aap)

“I think this result shows this team can do exactly that.”

Australia will feel like they dodged a bullet in this match, escaping with a draw despite a first innings deficit of 280. It leaves the series level at 0-0 heading into the second and final Test in Abu Dhabi starting on Tuesday, and Healy says the team will take a lot of confidence from the result.

“For the sake of a hundred runs and a bit more time, you never know what might have happened,” he said.

“To force a draw was fantastic. Traditionally we’re not good at that.

“That effort was as good as it gets.”