Khawaja savours ‘emotional’ Ashes hundred as Broad blasts ‘soulless’ pitch

His words were underlined by Khawaja’s 199-ball hundred -- his 15th in Tests but seventh in 18 matches since he was recalled last year.

Khawaja completed his century with a late-cut four off Stokes with the often understated left-hander throwing his bat in sheer joy.

“I honestly don’t know,” Khawaja told reporters when asked about his celebration. “It was the culmination of three Ashes tours in England and getting dropped in two of them.

“I don’t read the media but when I’m being sprayed (barracked) by the crowd out there, and as I’m going to the nets, that I can’t score runs in England, I guess it was a bit more emotional than normal.”

Khawaja, who has batted in several different berths, now averages a colossal 68.72 as an opener -- the highest by anyone in to have batted in a minimum 20 Test innings in the position.

He added: “Not that I have a point to prove but it’s nice to go out and score runs for Australia and show to everyone that the last ten years hasn’t been a fluke.”

Khawaja’s obdurate stay appeared to have ended when Broad bowled him for 112 in the first over with the new ball but replays revealed the veteran seamer had overstepped the crease for a marginal no-ball.

Broad had earlier reduced Australia to 29-2 as he again got the better of Warner, whom he dismissed seven times during the drawn 2019 Ashes in England.

The left-hander had reached nine on an overcast morning favouring England’s quicks when he chased a wide ball from Broad and inside edged into his stumps.

And the crowd’s roars were even louder when Labuschagne, the world’s top-ranked Test batsman, fell for a golden duck next ball after edging a Broad outswinger that was brilliantly caught one-handed low down by diving wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

“It has been a hard gruelling day on a pitch that offered very little but being in this position is a really positive place to be I think,” Broad told the BBC.

Stokes’s bowling fitness had been called into question by a longstanding left knee injury, but the lively all-rounder struck when he rapped Smith on the back foot with a nip-back ball.

Despite a review, Smith -- whose twin centuries in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston four years ago powered Australia to a 251-run win -- was lbw for 16.

But as the ball got older and conditions for batting eased, Khawaja and Travis Head checked England’s progress with a fourth-wicket stand of 81.

Both left-handers went after Moeen Ali, each hitting the recalled off-spinner for sixes on his Birmingham home ground.

But Moeen, kept on by Stokes, had his revene when Head, fresh from a hundred in Australia’s WTC final win over India at The Oval last week, dragged a drive to midwicket on 50.

Australia’s 148-4 should have become 148-5 when Cameron Green, on a second-ball nought, charged at a sharply-turning Moeen delivery only for Bairstow to miss a clear stumping opportunity. Moeen eventually bowled Green for 38.

Usman Khawaja said the taunts of the Edgbaston crowd spurred him on to an “emotional” maiden Test hundred in England as he led Australia’s fightback in the Ashes opener on Saturday.

Australia were reeling at 67-3 after Stuart Broad struck twice in two balls to remove David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, the world’s top-ranked Test batsman, before England captain Ben Stokes captured the prize wicket of Steve Smith.

Yet they recovered to 311-5 at stumps on the second day, 82 runs behind England’s first-innings 393-8 declared, with left-handed opener Khawaja 126 not out.

Broad later blasted the pitch as “soulless”.

Khawaja’s more than six-and-a-half hour stay may have lacked the dynamism of some of England’s ‘Bazball’ batting, but there was no denying the value of an innings that still featured 14 fours and two sixes.

The 36-year-old’s seventh hundred in 18 Tests since he was recalled last year also ended a decade-long wait to reach three figures at this level on English soil.

Prior to this innings, Khawaja’s top score in a Test in England was 54, with his corresponding average a lowly 19.60.

“When I’m getting sprayed (barracked) by the crowd as I’m walking out there today and as I’m going to nets being told that I can’t score runs in England...I guess it was just a bit more emotional than normal,” he said.

Khawaja, who attended Saturday’s post-play press conference with his daughter Aisha, said having his family around him helped ease the pressures surrounding what is set to be his last tour of England.

“These young ones keep me young and make me realise that there’s a lot to life and a lot of good stuff after I stop playing cricket,” he explained.

“So for me, it’s just about enjoying it. My wife has been awesome to me, she’s been my rock throughout my career.

“That perspective makes it a lot easier for me to go out there and just enjoy it as much as I can, whether I get a duck or a hundred.”

He added: “Every Test match is a bonus for me because we thought my career was over. In my head, it’s the last (Ashes) tour I’ll be on, unless I pull a Jimmy Anderson and come back when I’m 41.”