Khawaja injury sours day two

If the stroke that saw Steve Smith dismissed amid the run glut happening around him at the WACA this morning was an act of frustration, then the subsequent untimely injury to in-form batsman Usman Khawaja might inadvertently provide a salve.

Khawaja’s availability for the historic day-night Test that Australia will play against New Zealand in Adelaide later this month will be determined by the MRI scan to be undertaken tomorrow (Sunday) on his injured left hamstring. 

WATCH: Khawaja pulls up lame with hamstring injury

The 28-year-old, who was celebrating his second century in as many Tests 24 hours before pulling up lame when chasing a ball to the boundary in the 12^th over of the Black Caps’ innings this evening, has yet to be ruled in or out of the third Test that begins on November 27.

The fact that he batted for more than four hours in stifling heat in compiling 121 on Friday coupled with the nine months he spent out of cricket due to the reconstruction surgery on his left knee last summer means his withdrawal from the field might well have been precautionary.  

WATCH: Another silky ton for Khawaja

But if today’s scan reveals damage and with hamstring injuries invariably requiring up to three weeks to fully repair, the national selectors will be forced to make a change to an XI that was purring like a dream until today and install a new number three batsman.

And on the evidence tendered this morning as Smith once again missed out as those ahead of him in the batting line-up cashed in, then it’s probable the pivotal first-drop batting berth could be filled by the skipper should it be rendered vacant.

Which would allow potential replacements Cameron Bancroft, Shaun Marsh or even journeyman Michael Klinger to slot in further down the order.

Prior to the series starting, debate centred on whether Smith – upon assuming the Test captaincy in his own right from Michael Clarke – would continue to bat at number three as he did when he filled in as captain against India last summer and in the series against the West Indies and England that followed.

Or if he would follow Clarke’s lead and drop himself down a rung to the middle-order, in the knowledge that if the revamped top three that included Khawaja and Joe Burns, both in their infancy as Test players, failed to fire they would need stability and experience at number four.

As it’s transpired, Burns and Khawaja have posted centuries in each of the one and a half Tests to date against the Black Caps and opener David Warner has performed even better in peeling off a hundred – or as was the case yesterday, a double hundred – every time he’s gone to the crease. 

WATCH: Warner's mammoth double-century

Which has meant that while Smith as a captain has enjoyed the luxury of huge totals smiling at him from the scoreboard as he’s gone out to bat in his first three innings as full-time skipper, he’s also had little opportunity to find his own batting rhythm.

In Brisbane, he started well and appeared likely to replicate his epic deeds of last summer when he stroked eight boundaries on his way to 48 before he played the wrong line to a Trent Boult in-dipper that clipped the inside edge and rattled his stumps.

In the second innings, he threw away his wicket in the helter-skelter for quick runs with heavy weather closing in, and today’s dismissal carried an air of a batsman battling with himself as he aimed a wild swing at Boult and was caught behind.

Not only was the shot, with front foot played towards mid-wicket and bat whirling like a baseballer’s line drive, out of character in an innings that had soaked up an hour and a half and 68 balls of caution and concentration.

It also came 25 overs and almost an entire session before Smith declared his team’s innings closed at 9-559, so it was hardly a case of rallying the troops to up the run rate to get the Kiwis to the crease.

Indeed, at that stage of the day it seemed the Australians had been transported back to day one of the match as the morning sight of an opening batsman engaged in a tight dual against a shiny (almost) new ball created a sense of contest that had not existed on Friday.

When Australia piled on 416 for the loss of only two wickets and the only movement the Black Caps were able to get out of the ball came as it repeatedly scooted off the bats of Burns, Warner and Khawaja and across the pristine outfield.

The overnight talk of Warner challenging Matthew Hayden’s record Test score by an Australian of 380 and even Brian Lara’s world record of 400 was silenced less than six overs into the day when Warner flirted with a Boult outswinger and was smartly snared at second slip. 

WATCH: First innings highlights as Warner goes early

Resuming on 244, Warner had similarly squirted to his maiden Test 250 with a thick edge between slips and gully and then played and missed in Boult’s next over to provide a vignette of ball beating bat not previously seen in this Test.

When Smith struck out for 21, there was a sense that Australia would call time on their innings sooner rather than later with 462 on the board and the NZ bowlers and fielders flagging in heat that had peaked at 39.4C shortly before noon.

But perhaps the thought of further maddening the Black Caps by keeping them out in the midday sun convinced Smith it was wiser to allow his bowlers to linger a bit longer in the air-conditioned dressing room.

Certainly they kept their visits to the middle as brief as possible as, once Adam Voges nicked off immediately after lunch and Mitchell Marsh fell to a stunning return catch just as he was threatening that brutally big innings he’s built for, Australia lost 4-8 in three cavalier and chaotic overs.

The ploy to fatigue the tourists to the point where they could scarcely hold a bat let alone wave one in defiance looked to have succeeded when opener Martin Guptill failed to prevent a Mitchell Starc special thundering into his front pad from the 13^th ball of the innings. 

WATCH: Starc special lights up second session highlights

But from there the traffic that had flowed solely one way since the Test got underway began to trickle slowly in the other direction as Tom Latham (36) and Kane Williamson fashioned a fluent second wicket partnership of 81 until Latham misjudged a textbook turner from Nathan Lyon.

Williamson, however, once again stood firm and unfazed as the Australia bowlers attempted to unsettle him with pace and seduce him with spin, neither with any effect.

The class that the 25-year-old future NZ captain exemplified with his 140 in a first innings master class at the Gabba was best expressed in the flawless cover drive he executed against Mitchell Johnson to reach his third consecutive half-century in as many innings in this Commonwealth Bank Series.

He returns to the crease tomorrow with 70no against his name and a huge burden on his shoulders, as NZ’s hopes of substantially narrowing the current 419-run deficit they hold depend largely on the ability of their pivotal number three batsman.

As is so often the case for any Test team. 

WATCH: Williamson's flawless half-century