Steve Smith believes Usman Khawaja is still capable of opening the batting for Australia in the Ashes, despite a tough series against Jasprit Bumrah. Smith also predicts Travis Head will win the Allan Border Medal for his outstanding performances this year.
Steve Smith has endorsed Usman Khawaja to open for Australia in the Ashes and tipped Travis Head to win the Allan Border Medal on Monday night after what he called a “near flawless” innings thumping of Sri Lanka.
“Batting at the top of the order at the moment, particularly in Australia, is as hard as I’ve seen in my career. The amount of seam movement, and you throw into that he’s facing Jasprit Bumrah throughout the summer with a brand new ball, fresh every time. There’s probably not a much bigger threat in world cricket at the moment or almost ever.
“But the key message to the spinners is to just bowl the ball in a good area for as long as you can, and there was enough in the surface both skid wise and spin wise, the inconsistency. So hit a good length, try to challenge their defence.“It’s a lot of fun when you’ve got 650 on the board. You can set some funk fields, try to force batter error as much as possible, and not be worried about getting hit for any boundaries and things like that.
ASHES USMAN KHAWAJA TRAVIS HEAD ALLAN BORDER MEDAL AUSTRALIA
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