Alot has been made recently about David Warner retirement and who will replace him however no one else is talking about the other opener Usman Khawaja who has highest average for Aussie opener ever and 2nd all time. Where does he rank all time as an Australian opener? Surely his top 5.
How Does Khawaja stack up all time as an opener?
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It’s hard to say as he’s played quite a lot of tests but not that many tests as an opener. Don’t get me wrong, he’s been a fantastic opener since moving up the order a couple of years ago but I feel it’s hard to put him in that top tier bracket with the likes of Hayden, Langer, Taylor, Slater, Lawry, Simpson. There isn’t that big of a sample size really but I’d definitely say top 10. He’s going to be extremely hard to replace when his time is up though.
Not sure tbh.
His best innings have been done abroad - Dubai 2018, Birmingham 2023 & Pakistan Series which probably should be remembered more but isn't.
If selectors gave Khawaja the backing earlier in his career they gave Warner the whole time it may have been an even better career.
We wasted 18 months on Joe Burns after the 2019 Ashes when theoretically Khawaja would have done the job.
They always found an excuse to drop Uzzie. Maybe not being elite fieldsman didnt help his cause. But gee we pick some shit cricketer's ahead of him at certain times during his career.
His best innings have been done abroad - Dubai 2018, Birmingham 2023 & Pakistan Series which probably should be remembered more but isn't.
If selectors gave Khawaja the backing earlier in his career they gave Warner the whole time it may have been an even better career.
We wasted 18 months on Joe Burns after the 2019 Ashes when theoretically Khawaja would have done the job.
They always found an excuse to drop Uzzie. Maybe not being elite fieldsman didnt help his cause. But gee we pick some shit cricketer's ahead of him at certain times during his career.
dogs105
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51 innings, 7 hundreds, 2583 runs, average 57.40.
Who does that compare with?
Who does that compare with?
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Is that as a opener?
dogs105
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Yep.
If he'd played only as an opener, his record is better than a lot of previous openers. Similar run totals to Stackpole and Geoff Marsh, in about half of the matches.
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yep - can't argue with it.
Black Diamond
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Top 5 feels like a big call.
Hayden and Langer were without a doubt better. Ponsford too.
Lawry, Morris and Woodfull, probably better. Hard to assess Bill Brown given he only played 20-odd tests a long time ago.
Even Simon Katich, isolating as an opener, played 61 innings at 50.5 scoring 8 hundreds. Can it be said Khawaja is obviously better than Katich?
Hayden and Langer were without a doubt better. Ponsford too.
Lawry, Morris and Woodfull, probably better. Hard to assess Bill Brown given he only played 20-odd tests a long time ago.
Even Simon Katich, isolating as an opener, played 61 innings at 50.5 scoring 8 hundreds. Can it be said Khawaja is obviously better than Katich?
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Katich was very underrated and underappreciated tbh.
Like we punted him off at 35 when we probably could have got 3 more years out of him and we ended up turning back to Chris Rogers like 18 months after we shipped of Katich. So just reinforced what a mistake it was at the time.
While picking an 30 year old Ed Cowan during the 2012-2013 period when Katich still could have done a better job.
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Everyone knew katitch being dropped had more to do with him putting Clarke into a wall.
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He literally can’t have done any more as an opener. He’s been outstanding. I feel like he’s probably come into the role at a good time given that he’s probably been at the top of his game in knowing what works for him and probably his only major significant test as far as circumstances go has been England but he passed it with flying colours and was the best performed batsman over there and he has plenty of good cricket left in him.
I will be interested to see how he plays with a different style of batsman at the other end, though. He and Warner, even allowing for Warner’s inconsistency in recent times, complimented each other very well
I will be interested to see how he plays with a different style of batsman at the other end, though. He and Warner, even allowing for Warner’s inconsistency in recent times, complimented each other very well
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Given most of his opener runs come from the last two years, think his record still feels inflated by a purple patch rather than representative. He does have two opener tons dating back to 2016 and 2018 though (the latter being one of the best overseas tons by an Oz opener ever).
That premature dropping of Bancroft for Harris in the 2019 Ashes really shafted Usman. Still, I'm hoping that all the missed cricket makes him hungry to go on into his 40s a la Misbah and Younis. If he can play until next home Ashes and keep his average (as opener) above 50 then I'd say he's got all-time opener slot sewn up.
That premature dropping of Bancroft for Harris in the 2019 Ashes really shafted Usman. Still, I'm hoping that all the missed cricket makes him hungry to go on into his 40s a la Misbah and Younis. If he can play until next home Ashes and keep his average (as opener) above 50 then I'd say he's got all-time opener slot sewn up.
