Flailing Usman Khawaja’s Test future now lies out of his own hands | Geoff Lemon
As far as surprises go, a 38.95-year-old with a back problem continuing to have a back problem is not up there with the end of The Sixth Sense. The only twists in this story are the ones that Usman Khawaja can’t currently do. With the second Ashes Test in Brisbane coming up on 4 December, the capricious nature of such injuries made it odd that the batter was included in the first place in Australia’s squad on 30 November, and less odd that he was ruled out again on 2 December. But here we are, still engaged in the dance that Australia’s selectors have been doing through a reluctance to part with Khawaja at the top of the order.From here, other results will decide whether we have reached the end of what has been, like so many others, a very good Test career that declined irreversibly toward its end. For two years Khawaja has struggled with the level of fast bowling that Test openers must combat, looking increasingly out of sorts in the process. Throughout that period, thanks to the faith shown in him by selectors, the solution has remained in his own two hands. One big score, one vigil of the sort he once made routine, and he could lock in the confidence that his later-stage version could bring the benefit of experience with no trade-off in reflexes.That hasn’t happened, and now his fate is someone else’s to determine. Normally the injured player just has the conundrum of watching their one replacement: wanting that substitute to do well enough that the team isn’t disadvantaged, but not well enough to keep the spot. This time, though, Khawaja’s future rests in two pairs of other hands.Of course, Australian team management has still not confirmed that Travis Head will open the batting in Queensland: they prefer a situationship vibe, never wanting to commit to describing the thing in front of them. But without addition to the squad, the answer has to lie within. Most likely, that means Head reprising his star turn at the top of the order, with either Beau Webster or Josh Inglis coming into the middle, perhaps at No 6 as Cameron Green goes up to No 5.Which means that for Khawaja’s spot to disappear for the rest of the series, both those players have to do well. Head surely won’t attack as aggressively as during his Perth century, but his approach can still be boom and bust. If it’s bust, Khawaja has a case to return. If the middle order replacement doesn’t score, there’s a case to move Head back down. But if both go well, making it twice in a row for Head up top, Khawaja will struggle to mount an argument to depose him.View image in fullscreenTravis Head Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/ReutersRight now Australia are saying Khawaja is still in the plan, staying with the squad in Brisbane for his treatment. If he can storm back to have a decisive influence in the final three Tests, it would be a wonderful story to round out a career that has already given us several. But there’s a point at which Khawaja becomes Homer Simpson’s giant sandwich, and the team clinging on for too long faces a health hazard.Currently, nobody else knows what they are doing because the injured opener is the variable. Head doesn’t know if he has that job for a season or a week. Inglis won’t know if he’s coming in with licence to attack the series over four Tests, or needing a huge score from one. The argument for keeping Khawaja around since David Warner’s retirement has been stability, but right now he is the main destabilising influence on this team.skip past newsletter promotionSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThat’s further underlined by his recent potshot at Perth Stadium: having faced all of six balls after dropping down to No 4 with his back problem, he felt qualified to pronounce the pitch “a piece of shit”, despite the match referee giving it the highest rating for quality. That kind of response only comes across as churlish at having made no runs on the opening day in Perth for the last two seasons, both times facing fine spells of fast bowling.A player’s job is to focus on what they should do to meet the challenge in front of them, not to complain about the one just past. Being distracted in that way, airing grievances, being seen as making excuses, all of that looks like flailing. Flailing is what happens in final moments, anything for a handhold, a symptom when desperation combines with denial. The Sixth Sense is about a guy walking around without knowing that he’s dead yet. He might not be the only one.
