Because of the back injury he suffered during the Perth opener, Australia opening batsman Usman Khawaja was on Tuesday ruled out of the second Ashes Test against England.
In the first Test triumph, the veteran was unable to open due to back spasms and was replaced for the second innings by Travis Head, who blasted a match-winning century.
It leaves Khawaja’s international career in uncertainty. He has been under fire following a poor run of batting form and will turn 39 later this month.
“Khawaja will remain with the team to continue his rehabilitation. He has not been replaced in the squad,” said Cricket Australia ahead of Thursday’s day-night encounter at Brisbane’s Gabba.
Khawaja batted for 30 minutes in the practice nets on Tuesday evening but the left-hander appeared to be in agony. Head will be favourite to be deployed as opener in Khawaja’s absence.
After leading Australia to an eight-wicket triumph at Perth with a blistering 123 off 83 balls, he declared he would be delighted to play the Test new ball once more. He opens in white-ball cricket.
Cameron Green will take Head’s customary fifth place in the batting order, while seaming all-rounder Beau Webster is probably going to start at number six if Head does move up.
Pacer Scott Boland offered sympathy to Khawaja. “It’s hard because he’s put in a lot of work since the last game just trying to get his body right but he hasn’t come up, unfortunately,” Boland told reporters.
“I thought he looked pretty good in the nets, but he must have thought in himself that he wasn’t ready to go.”
England-born Josh Inglis is also in contention to step in, and Boland added: “I think the best thing about our team over the last few years is when someone has come out, either due to form or an injury, someone’s always stood up and done their job.”
Meanwhile, off-spinner Will Jacks has replaced the injured Mark Wood in the England side for the day-night Test.
As England abandoned the all-pace attack used in the first Test loss in Perth, Jacks will play his first Test in three years. To give the England batting additional depth, the 27-year-old was selected for the pink-ball encounter ahead of Shoaib Bashir.
All-rounder Jacks has featured in two Tests, taking a five-wicket haul on debut against Pakistan in 2022. Since then, England have largely deployed him in white-ball cricket.
“Everyone knows what a brilliant cricketer he is,” England batsman and Jacks’ Surrey team-mate Ollie Pope told reporters.
“The way he’s grown over the last few years, we’ve seen his white-ball game really go forward. It’s a great opportunity for his red-ball, too. He’s obviously got that style of spin bowling where he can get some bounce and turn off the pitch, then everyone has seen the skills he’s got in the white-ball format. He can take on a really good attack.”
Pope claimed to be “pretty annoyed” by both of his dismissals after scoring 46 and 33 when batting at three.
“At the same time, I was happy with how I was playing up until the moment I got out,” he added.
“If I can start my innings like that as much as I can while I’m out here, hopefully some big runs will flow.”
“There’s a few lessons there, I guess, individuals would take from last week and then put them into practice this week,” he added of England’s poor batting in Perth, where they were out for 172 and 164.
Pope was grilled about news images of teammates Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith and Wood riding electric scooters in Brisbane without helmets, which are a legal requirement.
“Just put a helmet on next time, I guess,” he said.
According to Queensland’s police department, pictures of “persons” riding e-scooters without helmets were making the rounds.
“Officers have since engaged with those persons to inform and educate them on compliance requirements associated with E-mobility devices in Queensland,” a spokesperson said.
England team: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
