Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has launched a stunning verbal assault on the pitch used for the first Ashes Test in Perth, branding the surface ‘a piece of s***’, a description that stands in direct opposition to the ‘very good’ rating it received from the International Cricket Council.
Khawaja's Fiery Critique and Batting Struggles
Despite the ICC awarding the pitch its highest possible grading, Khawaja did not hold back in his assessment. The 38-year-old batsman had a miserable personal outing, managing to score just two runs in his only innings of the match. He was batting out of position at number four due to back spasms, dropping down from his usual role as opener, when he fended a delivery from England's Brydon Carse to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Khawaja pointed to the dramatic fall of 19 wickets on the first day and the fact around 20 players were struck by the ball as evidence the surface was unfair. He also drew a parallel with the pitch used in Perth a year earlier against India, where 17 wickets fell on the first day. ‘Nineteen wickets on the first day, about 20 people got hit – that’s a great wicket, that seems real fair?’ Khawaja said sarcastically.
Team Place Under Threat and Squad Selection
The veteran's explosive comments come at a time when his place in the Australian side is under intense scrutiny. His poor performance was thrown into sharp relief by Travis Head’s spectacular second-innings century after being promoted to open the batting. Head's masterful knock was instrumental in securing Australia's victory in a Test that lasted just two days, leading to speculation that Khawaja could be dropped for the second Test in Brisbane.
Khawaja's astonishing remarks are unlikely to have endeared him to the Australian team hierarchy. However, in a significant development, he was later named in an unchanged 14-man squad for the Brisbane Test. The squad continues to be without its injured pace attack leaders, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Technical Analysis and Pitch Behaviour
Elaborating on his criticism, Khawaja provided a technical breakdown of why the pitch was so difficult for batsmen. He used teammate Steve Smith, whom he described as ‘by far the best cricketer I’ve played with’, as an example. Khawaja noted that even Smith was ‘missing the middle of his bat by a long way’, which he said was highly uncharacteristic.
He explained the core problem was the unpredictable bounce, making it nearly impossible for batters to adjust. ‘You can’t really predict up and down [bounce]. Your hands can’t catch up,’ he stated. While he conceded that the pitch improved on days two and three, he maintained that the day one wicket was fundamentally poor and that the surface began to crack up again by day four.
This pattern, he argued, is precisely why teams winning the toss in Perth almost always choose to bat first, hoping to capitalise on the best batting conditions towards the end of day two and into day three.
