In-form Khawaja surpasses dad's hero

The sublime start to Usman Khawaja's career at English county side Glamorgan has already seen him break the record of one of his father's cricketing idols, Pakistan legend Javed Miandad.

And the left-hander now has another Glamorgan record, shared by Miandad and West Indies legend Viv Richards, in his sights.

Khawaja's innings of 103 in Glamorgan's total of 254 against Northamptonshire on Tuesday was his third hundred in as many games for his new side, breaking the county's record of two in two matches from debut set by Miandad in 1980.

The Australian has joined an impressive list of foreign imports to play for the Welsh side over the years, led by Miandad and Richards and including Pakistan duo Waqar Younis and Majid Khan.

And it's the former Pakistan skipper, legendary batsman Miandad, who holds special significance for Khawaja.

"I was born in Pakistan, my father’s a cricket nutter," he said earlier this month. "Javed Miandad is one of his favourite players.

"He used to talk about him all the time, being from Pakistan. My dad liked a lot of Pakistani players.

"There are some pretty amazing names and great cricketers there, so I’m pretty humbled."

Having scored 126 in the second innings against Derbyshire last week and 103 on Tuesday, Khawaja could make it three centuries in as many innings when Glamorgan bat again at Sophia Gardens over the coming days.

Another century would see him become the fifth Glamorgan batsman to score three in three innings and the first to do so from debut; Dai Davies (in 1928), Miandad (1981), Richards (1990) and Steve James (1997) are the only Glamorgan batsmen to have achieved the feat.

Of his three hundreds so far, Khawaja's effort against Derbyshire last week would be most pleasing to national selectors ahead of Australia's next Test assignment, against Pakistan on the turning tracks of the UAE later this year.

Facing a spin barrage on a wearing pitch at the seaside St Helen's Cricket Ground, the Queenslander unveiled a variety of sweeps, reverse-sweeps and paddles as he brought up three figures, with all but 10 of the 131 balls he faced to reach the milestone bowled by spinners.

Khawaja is yet to conquer the turning ball in the subcontinent and has regularly been dropped on Australia's recent Test series in Asia.

The Test side will be without banned duo Steve Smith and David Warner for the Pakistan series and the likes of Khawaja will be desperate to reverse his record against spin to help the Aussies reverse their 0-2 series loss in the UAE four years ago.

And he'll get plenty of practice against the turning ball before that series begins; Khawaja will represent Australia A during a tour of India later this winter along with fellow Test batsmen Mitch Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw, with the A side to play a one-day tri-series and then two four-day games against India A before heading to the UAE.

This week's match against Northants is Khawaja's last in white clothing for Glamorgan this season; he will stay on for the T20 Blast starting next month before countryman Shaun Marsh, who also scored a hundred on debut at the start of the season, returns as the county's premier overseas player for the first-class matches.