Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja :-Australia was 2/111 when the umpires called for the covers. Khawaja has made an impressive start to his Test career, after taking the field directly after lunch.

The 24-year-old Sydneysider was greeted warmly by his home crowd as he strode from the Members’ Pavilion, and began confidently, flicking the first ball from Chris Tremlett off his pads for two runs, then executing a perfectly-timed pull shot to score his first boundary on the next ball.

Khawaja is the first Muslim player to represent Australia and was brought in to replace injured skipper Ricky Ponting.

The young No.3 batsman had 40 minutes to think about his innings after opening batsman Phil Hughes fell on the last ball before lunch.

But there was no hint of nerves in his strokeplay as he swung his bat both crisply and freely, moving to 26 before rain stopped play. He has already passed Ponting’s average of 16 for this series.