England
\nUsman Khawaja and Travis Head have been named in a 15-man Australia squad for the first two Tests of the upcoming Ashes series, after selectors left the door open to both players to make the final cut for next month\u2019s opener against England.
\nThe pair are now likely fight it out in a practice match in Brisbane between Australia and an A team, starting on 1 December, to win the No 5 spot vacated by Matthew Wade in Tim Paine\u2019s side.
\nKhawaja\u2019s last Test appearance for Australia came during the 2019 Ashes series but his scintillating start to this year\u2019s Shield \u2013 he tops the run charts after hitting back-to-back centuries, including a 174 against South Australia last month \u2013 prompted his return to the fold.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cUsman Khawaja has been in great touch. He brings a calm, consistent and experienced component to the batting line-up and is a proven run-scorer at Test level,\u201d chairman of selectors George Bailey said. \u201cHe also has the ability to bat across a range of positions in the batting order.<\/p>\n
Khawaja said he was excited after getting the phone call from Bailey on Tuesday morning, but he tempered that with a touch of realism.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying for Australia is always an honour and being selected in the 15-man squad is obviously an honour too,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m excited but it\u2019s still business as usual \u2013 we\u2019re still in the middle of the season \u2013 so you can\u2019t get too far ahead of yourself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity in the middle order there and that\u2019s probably where it\u2019s at. Whether I play or not will just depend on the selectors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head also started the domestic season in good nick, but has fallen away slightly in recent outings, scoring just one half-century in his last six innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cTravis finished last summer strongly, second only to Cameron Green for runs scored, and has again started the season well,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cHe drives the game forward and can put the opposition under pressure with his ability to score quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
England Usman Khawaja and Travis Head have been named in a 15-man Australia squad for the first two Tests of the upcoming Ashes series, after selectors left the door open to both players to make the final cut for next month\u2019s opener against England. The pair are now likely fight it out in a practice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-228002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n