Khawaja shines in Ireland rout
NO Australian needed runs like Usman Khawaja, and the under-pressure batsman delivered in a nine-wicket thrashing of Ireland in Benoni, South Africa.
Khawaja struck a classy 82 not out overnight Tuesday, his second-best ODI effort, as Steve Smith (59 off 74) also hit an unbeaten half century after legspinner Adam Zampa helped roll through the Irish for 198.
Khawaja’s knock came a month after his tour aggregate for Sri Lanka was 103 at an average of less than 13, leading to him being dropped from the Test and one-day teams. However, he earned a reprieve when Geelong’s Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh suffered finger injuries, and he made the most of it on Tuesday.
Khawaja’s 82 came off just 77 balls as Australia chased down the meagre total with 119 balls to spare. He struck seven boundaries, including two sixes, as he combined with David Warner (48 off 30) for an opening-wicket stand of 73 from 52 balls.
But the Queenslander doesn’t believe he will walk to the wicket beside Warner in the opening one-dayer against South Africa on Friday in Centurion, as Finch prepares to return.
“I’ll let selectors deal with that,” Khawaja said.
Ireland appeared to be cruising at 1-121 in the 23rd over before Zampa (3-37) pumped the breaks by taking the key wickets of skipper Will Porterfield (24) and righthander Kevin O’Brien (23).