Australia’s Khawaja holds firm as Ashes opener heads towards climax

Unbeaten fifty: Australia’s Usman Khawaja drives against England in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston (Geoff Caddick)

Usman Khawaja held firm after an England double strike to give Australia hope of victory on a tense final day of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.

After Tuesday’s morning session was washed out by rain, Australia lost both nightwatchman Scott Boland and frontline batsman Travis Head when play finally got underway.

But at tea Australia were 183-5, needing a further 98 runs to reach a target of 281, with 38 overs remaining in the last session.

Left-handed opener Khawaja, who ended his decade-long wait for an Ashes hundred in England with 141 in the first innings, was 56 not out and all-rounder Cameron Green unbeaten on 22 in an unbroken stand of 40.

Australia resumed on 107-3 after veteran England seamer Stuart Broad had removed Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, the world’s two top-ranked Test batsmen, late on Monday’s fourth day.

But Khawaja was still there on 34 and by taking guard on Tuesday the 36-year-old became only the second Australian, after Kim Hughes at Lord’s in 1980, to bat on all five days of a Test.

Boland, sent in as nightwatchman on Monday, had already surpassed his previous highest Test score when, on 20, he fell to Broad, driving at a swinging delivery only to be caught behind.

But with Australia on 121-4 and the sun starting to break through the clouds, Boland had done his job with the bat on a pitch previously labelled “soulless” by Broad.

Broad went round the wicket to Khawaja and almost beat him with a yorker.

England did have another wicket when Moeen Ali, struggling with a finger injury, struck on his Birmingham home ground.

Moeen’s first ball of the day, a rank long hop, was pulled for four by Travis Head.

But his fifth was a classic off-spinning delivery to the left-hander, taking the outside edge on its way to Joe Root at slip as a near capacity crowd erupted in celebration at Head’s exit for 16.

The wicket reduced Australia to 143-5, rewarding the faith of England captain Ben Stokes in Moeen, who had been recalled after nearly two years of red-ball retirement following a series-ending injury to first-choice spinner Jack Leach.

Khawaja, however, held firm against an England attack lacking an express fast bowler to complete a 143-ball fifty including seven fours.

Australia are bidding for a first Ashes series win in England in 22 years, with England aiming for a first Test campaign victory over their arch rivals since 2015.

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