Queensland captain Marnus Labuschagne has backed Usman Khawaja and reckons that he will probably improve his performance in the Sheffield Shield Final which starts in Adelaide.
While Khawaja is set to return for Queensland having missed the final round clash with a hamstring issue, was accused of fake injury accusation as he attended Formula racing instead of rehabilitation.
Khawaja who came out swinging last Friday, after Dawes suggested he didn’t have the hamstring issue the 38-year old test opener said had kept him out of the final round game, also against SA, which Queensland drew to make the final.
Dawes claiming Khawaja did not have hamstring issues that they were aware of and said, “it’s just disappointing he didn’t play a game for Queensland when he had an opportunity to.”
Labuschagne confirmed that Usman Khawaja would definitely play in the final at Karen Rolton Oval on Wednesday and was confident that Australia’s Test opener wouldn’t be distracted after a turbultent week.
“No, not at all,” Labuschagne said at the captains’ pre-game press conference. “If anything, it’ll probably improve his performance. He just loves the big moments. He’s been an amazing player for a long time, so I don’t think he’s going to have any issues with going out there and performing at his best.”
South Australian captain Nathan mcSweeney who was khawaja’s opening partner for the first three tests of the Border Gavaskar series and is a former Queensland team-mate, said he had spoken to Khawaja in the lead-up to the final and expected to perform well.
“He wanted to see if he could get a tee time at Kooyonga,” McSweeney said. “So I did send him a cheeky text. But he’s all good. “He’s a professional player, has been for a long time now, and I think he’ll be definitely ready here tomorrow, and he’ll be a massive wicket for us.”
“The wicket is probably not as hard as it was for last week’s game here,” he said. “I think there’s probably a little bit more moisture in it. The grass is probably a fraction longer. But obviously [curator] Trent [Kelly] hasn’t cut it yet, so we’ll have to wait and see whether that gets cut in the morning.
“I think, all in all, last week would have been a really good cricket wicket for a five-day game. South Australia had us in a position where if they really wanted to try and win the game, they probably could have pushed down that route,” added McSweeney.
“Even last week, on that wicket that was quite flat, there could have been a result. So I don’t think there’s going to be any problem with trying to get a result this game,” concluded Nathan McSweeney.
