Khawaja brushes off doubters ahead of Marsh Cup final

Usman Khawaja has rejected Shane Warne's fears he's lost the desire to play Test cricket and brushed off questions about his on-field demeanour as he prepares to lead Queensland in their Marsh One-Day Cup final against Western Australia.

Overlooked from the Test squad to play Pakistan, the Bulls captain will have the chance to press his claims for a recall when his side hosts WA in the 50-over competition's decider at Brisbane's Allan Border Field on Tuesday.

Reserve Test squad members Michael Neser and Cameron Bancroft will return to play for Queensland and WA respectively before heading to Adelaide ahead of Friday's second Domain Test.

Australia limited-overs spinner Ashton Agar has also recovered from a gruesome head knock he suffered in WA's final regular-season match against South Australia.

Warne declared last week that he "just wants to shake him (Khawaja) and get him to show a bit more" and that it was time for him to show how much he wanted to play for Australia.

Asked to respond to Warne's insinuations, Khawaja said: "I don't think there's any need to answer that question.

"I'm a pretty cool bloke. You either get it or you don't, that's the way it is.

"No, never (have I stopped wanting to play for Australia), if I had I would've retired. I feel like I belong at international level, but I've got to score runs."

Khawaja averages 40.66 in 44 Tests but that lifts to 52.97 at home and Justin Langer insists he'll remain in the mix if he puts runs on the board.

The coach even indicated last week that Khawaja, almost 33, was better off playing for Queensland than remaining with the squad at the Gabba as the spare batsman.

The usually fluent strokemaker dug in for an unbeaten 86 against Tasmania to ensure the Bulls secured home advantage for the final in his one and only innings since missing Test selection.

Queensland coach Wade Seccombe rated it a "special knock" in tough conditions and labelled criticism of Khawaja's desire as unfair.

And footage of a shattered Khawaja in the dressing rooms following Australia's gutting Headingley Ashes loss – released on Monday ahead of a documentary series to be shown on Amazon Prime next year – also revealed plenty.

"Yeah it was very tough moment, I think it was a tough moment for the whole of Australia, let alone the guys playing," Khawaja said of the Headingley loss.

"That stuff's the down of sport, the stuff you don't see, I keep my emotions in check when I'm on the field, but it's probably the stuff off the field that you don't see."

Khawaja welcomed the return of Neser, who he labelled a "genius of a bowler", but the Bulls look set to be without big-hitting allrounder Ben Cutting, who is playing in the T10 league in the UAE.

While Queensland have earnt hosting rights for the decider, WA finished level with the ladder-leaders on points and boast a side featuring a stack of international talent.

That has made the efforts of prodigious young allrounder Cameron Green, who's currently unable to bowl due to a back injury, to force his way into the side as a specialist batter all the more impressive.

Green rescued WA in their most recent match against Redbacks, smashing 86 off 78 balls from No.7 in a tense six-run win.

"What he's done brilliantly is when he's been given the opportunity with the bat in the lower order, he's taken that opportunity. He's made it so we've had to keep picking him as a batter," said WA skipper Ashton Turner.

"His skills and his scores have warranted selection. It's so exciting and so rare you find guys who you can pick as a batter or as a bowler. They're like gold to have in your team, especially when they can bat in your top six.

"We know in the future he's going to be such a valuable player for Western Australia and probably Australia as well."

Queensland squad: Usman Khawaja (c), Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Ben Cutting, Sam Heazlett, Charlie Hemphrey, Matthew Kuhnemann, Michael Neser, James Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Jack Wildermuth.

Western Australia squad: Ashton Turner (c), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright,  Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Matt Kelly, Shaun Marsh, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis.