Usman Khawaja joined Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden and Warren Bardsley as other Australia players to score a century in both innings of an Ashes Test as he achieved the feat during the Sydney Test.
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Usman Khawaja was not selected in the Australian cricket team for two years. Before the Ashes, he was involved in an intense competition for places with Travis Head. Khawaja did not make the cut before the Sydney Test. However, he has grabbed the opportunity with both hands. After smashing 137, Usman Khawaja followed it up with another century in the Sydney Test against England. The efforts by Khawaja saw Australia’s lead near 400, with Cameron Green falling for 74.
Khawaja notched up his 10th Test century and it was his third in the Ashes. All three of his Ashes centuries have come in Sydney. But, his feat of scoring a century in each innings of an Ashes Test has put him on an elite list. He has achieved a feat so rare in the Ashes that not even Sir Don Bradman has achieved it. In the nearly 150-year history of the Ashes, only four Australian players have scored a century in each innings of the Ashes.
Usman Khawaja joins Warren Bardsley, Steve Waugh, Steve Smith and Matthew Hayden as the other Australian players to have achieved this feat. Bardsley was the first individual in the history of Test cricket to hit two centuries in the same match. In the 1909 Oval Test, Bardsley hit 136 and 130 as the match ended in a draw.
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88 years later, Steve Waugh managed to break new ground when he smashed 108 and 116 in the 1997 Ashes clash in Manchester. Waugh was battling an injury to his right hand but he played a knock for the ages in testing conditions. His knock of 108 in the first innings made the difference in a total of 235. In the second innings, his 116 and partnership of 102 helped Australia clinch a remarkable win.
Matthew Hayden became the first Australian player to hit two centuries in an Ashes Test in Australia. During the 2002 Brisbane Test, Hayden smashed 197 and 103 to give Australia a massive 384-run win. After 17 years, Steve Smith made a brilliant comeback after the ball-tampering ban. His knocks of 144 and 142 helped Australia beat England in Edgbaston after a gap of 18 years. Here is the list of Australian players who have hit a century in both innings of an Ashes Test against England
| Player | Score | Venue | Year |
| Warren Bardsley | 136, 130 | Oval | 1909 |
| Steve Waugh | 108, 116 | Manchester | 1997 |
| Matthew Hayden | 197, 103 | Brisbane | 2002 |
| Steve Smith | 144, 142 | Edgbaston | 2019 |
| Usman Khawaja | 137, 101* | Sydney | 2022 |
Khawaja is uncertain to keep his place in the Australian team despite the heroics in Sydney. Travis Head is expected to come back for the Hobart Test after he was sidelined due to coronavirus. But, this feat by Usman Khawaja has increased calls for him to be a regular in the Australian cricket team. Australia is undertaking tours of Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka and Khawaja has a good record against them.
Khawaja smashed a magnificent 141 in 2018 against Pakistan in Dubai to help them rescue a Test match. But, since then, his indifferent form has seen him being dropped from the Australian side in 2019. One hopes that the Sydney knocks in 2022 are a chance for him to cement his place in the Australian team on a regular basis.
