Australia’s star opener Usman Khawaja once again proved his mettle in the Test format by playing two crucial knocks and helping his nation pull off a historic win in the first match of the Ashes 2023 series at the Edgbaston.
Khwaja slammed a brilliant ton for Australia, hammering 141 runs off 321 deliveries comprising fifteen boundaries in the first innings and ensuring the visitors don’t finish too far from England’s total. The left-handed batter continued his red-hot form in the second innings as well and contributed crucial 65 runs off 197 balls.
Khawaja finished as the top scorer for Australia in both innings and earned himself the much-deserved ‘Player of the Match’ award. The official Twitter handle of the Australian team also acknowledged the efforts of Khawaja and wrote: “No surprises who is Player of the Match: Usman Khawaja #Ashes.”
No surprises who is Player of the Match: Usman Khawaja #Ashes https://t.co/Pj71DQUfgW
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 20, 2023
The post by cricket.com.au was even shared by Khawaja’s wife, Rachel Khawaja, who praised and congratulated her husband on the achievement.
“Well done my love,” Rachel captioned the shared post with a clap emoji in the end.
Well done my love 👏 https://t.co/2yAWjb7iGG
— Rachel Khawaja (@rachel_khawaja) June 20, 2023
Speaking of the match, England chose to bat first after winning the toss and eventually declared their innings at a score of 393/8 on Day 1 itself. In reply, Khawaja’s century knock helped Australia to finish at a score of 386. England then went on to set a target of 281 runs for the Aussie side in the second innings, which Australia chased on the final Day with two wickets remaining courtesy of a brilliant start from Khawaja and a match-winning partnership between Pat Cummins (44) and Nathan Lyon (16).
It is worth mentioning that with the win, Australia now leads the five-match Ashes 2023 series (1-0) and will next square off against England in the second match at the Lord’s cricket ground in London which commences from June 28.
