The comeback King once again had chants of “UZZIE, UZZIE” echoing around his old home ground, as Khawaja could barely articulate the “surreal” feeling of becoming only the sixth Australian to post centuries in both innings of an Ashes Test, and only the third ever at the SCG.
Australia declared at 6-265 before England clawed their way through 11 overs in the dark to be 0-30 at stumps.
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They must chase down 358 to win, hold on for 98 overs, or pray for rain as Khawaja’s 101 not out and Cameron Green’s brutal 74 gave Australia a golden shot at keeping whitewash hopes alive.
Former greats are adamant Khawaja has made himself undroppable, and England say they’d be gobsmacked if he doesn’t keep his place for the final Ashes Test in Hobart.
“Very surprised,” said England coach, Graham Thorpe.
“He’s made it very difficult for Australia to leave him out. He looked a better player than when he last played for Australia.”
In his one and only Test this series, not only has Khawaja dwarfed Harris’ total run-scoring across all four matches (238 versus 179), but he also overtook Steve Smith on the series’ tally, leaving Joe Root (253) as the only Englishman ahead of him.
Khawaja joined Warren Bardsley, Arthur Morris, Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden and Steve Smith as Australians to post back-to-back Ashes hundreds, while at the famous SCG, only Doug Walters in 1968-69 and Ricky Ponting in 2005-06 have done what Khawaja achieved.
Fox Cricket experts Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh said Khawaja had put down an irrefutable case to keep his place for Hobart, while fellow former Test star Greg Blewett said the end has come for Harris with his 14 Tests and 26 innings enough of a sample size without a triple figure score for selectors to have seen enough.
TAB bookmakers are preparing to cut Khawaja’s price from $41 to $5 to finish the Ashes’ leading run-scorer after just one match.
But there is one key figure resigned to Harris surviving and selectors dropping the SCG hero after dual tons – and that is Khawaja himself.
And he would agree with the call - Khawaja even going as far as to argue against his own selection.
“If I’m being totally honest, I bat No.5 this Test match and it was a lot of fun, I got runs, and you can’t really compare 5 to opening. It’s a bit like apples and oranges,” said Khawaja.
“Opening is tougher. There’s a big difference.
“At the moment, I’m quite resigned to the fact I probably will miss out. Talking to George Bailey and the selectors about continuity and making sure we have a similar team.”
The immediate future of Harris was already uncertain following the first Khawaja hundred, as the opener left himself exposed to the axe with another teasing innings of 27 on day four.
Travis Head deserves to walk straight back in from his COVID isolation on the back of an early series hundred, while Green was going nowhere anyway – but so exquisite was Khawaja’s second hundred for the game on a tricky pitch it revived memories of the fluent 360 degree strokeplay of his hero Brian Lara as he etched his name into the record books.
Harris is clearly the man in the gun but he found an unlikely ally in Khawaja who has felt let down by selectors previously in his career as a man who has scored as many tons as Bob Simpson, has a better average than Mark Waugh and is about to overtake Victor Trumper on the run-scorer’s list with a superior record, only to play 45 Tests out of the more than 100 Australia has played since his debut.
“Once you get selected in Australia you should get a fair crack at it for a while. You work hard to get up there and be selected. I’ve been on both sides,” said Khawaja.
“I’ve felt that throughout my career a lot of changes were made and I was on the wrong side of them … and I’m the first to say there needs to be structure and stability. I know how hard it is for a cricketer chopping and changing on your confidence. I actually love the processes that the selectors have been taking throughout the series … it sucks, but that’s cricket.”
Khawaja will bide his time until the March tour of Pakistan if he has to, but at the moment he’s just soaking up what has been an extraordinary comeback aged 35 and two and a half years after his last Test.
“It’s a surreal moment,” Khawaja told Fox Cricket of his 10th Test hundred.
“I’ve never got back-to-back hundreds in first class cricket, let alone Test cricket.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. It all worked out pretty well. It doesn’t always happen in life and cricket so it’s pretty special.”
After Khawaja’s brilliant 137 in the first dig, Australian coach Justin Langer refused to rule out the veteran star’s chances of keeping his place for the Ashes finale in Hobart next week, despite Head’s return.
An even bigger issue for Harris than his failure to score a hundred is the fact that in a third of his Test innings he has fallen between scores of about 20 and 40 – with the throwing away of decent starts the original knock on him when he made his Test debut back in 2018.
Blewett said on Channel 7 Harris had to go.
“Usman Khawaja coming off a magnificent hundred, he's opened the batting before, I think that's the way they've got to go,” he said.
Earlier, Scott Boland continued his fairytale Test start with figures of 4-36 as England were bowled out for 294 in their first innings, handing Australia a 122-run lead.
RE-LIVE ALL THE ACTION FROM THE FOURTH TEST BELOW
Updates
It was Usman Khawaja's day – and now it's all down to Australia's bowlers to keep the Ashes whitewash alive.
Khawaja posted his second century of the Test, becoming just the third Australian to achieve the feat at the SCG, in a brilliant partnership with Cameron Green (74), as Australia finished 6-265 to set England an unlikely target of 388.
Pat Cummins held off his declaration later than many expected, but still gave himself and his fellow quicks enough time for 11 overs at England's openers.
But Zak Crawley (22) and Haseeb Hameed (8) did brilliantly to nullify the SCG pitch and the Aussie quicks, finishing the day 0-30.
And so it comes down to day five – with an early 10am start, and potentially 98 overs for Australia to take 10 wickets, a 4-0 series lead and an Ashes whitewash alive.
England will be desperate to prevent yet another defeat – and they might have mother nature on their side, with a day of intermittent rain predicted.
Join us for all the action from early tomorrow.
England pass their best opening partnership of the series – and comes via a thick edge off the shoulder of the bat from Zak Crawley.
Scott Boland hits a good length and gets one to spit out off the SCG pitch, taking the shoulder of the bat – and a bit of Crawley's thumb – as it flies over the slips for four.
England are 0-27, bettering the 23 from the Gabba Test, with 22 coming from Crawley's bat.
They've done superbly to survive this tricky little session before stumps – but there's one more over to come from Pat Cummins to navigate yet.
Seven overs down, and England have done things comfortably so far.
There's been no rain from the dark clouds overhead, and no thunderbolts from Starc, Cummins or Boland.
Zak Crawley looks the most assured England opener of the series as he flicks Starc for four off his pads to move to 17.
England are 0-20 as they creep towards their best opening partnership of the series (currently the 23 put on by Hameed and Rory Burns in the second innings at the Gabba).
The first bowling change, after five wicketless overs.
And it's the man with the Midas touch – Scott Boland – who gets the rock in his hands.
Pat Cummins gave himself just two overs before turning to the player who ripped England to pieces at the MCG – and backed it up with more heroics in Sydney this week.
England are 0-15 after five overs, with Zak Crawley starting promisingly (13 from 14)
There are dark clouds looming at the SCG that could force a finish before 6pm tonight – and it's not the only thing that will have Pat Cummins' worried.
Zak Crawley has started promisingly, hitting a textbook straight drive off the Australian captain for four.
Off to the side of the ground, too, there are ominous clouds moving towards the ground that have the SCG groundstaff hovering with the covers near the boundary.
Will Cummins live to regret holding off on his declaration call as Australia's lead ballooned towards 400?
A huge task for Zak Crawley and Haseeb Hameed tonight as, for the second time this Test, they attempt to navigate a nightmare examination from Australia's quicks in fading light.
They survived on Thursday night, reaching stumps unscathed and falling just short of England's top opening partnership of the summer the following morning.
But with the Test on the line, and the Aussies with their tails up, tonight's atmosphere feels especially intense.
Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have taken the new ball, and will have Scott Boland and potentially Cameron Green to call on over the next 40 minutes.
What an hour we have coming up.
Australia delayed the declaration beyond what most people were expecting, but England have been set 388 for victory.
For Australia? They need 10 wickets to move to 4-0 in the series, and keep the whitewash dream alive.
They'll have a little over three sessions to achieve it.
Today was, again, all about Usman Khawaja and his outrageous unbeaten 101 – capping a dream return to the Test team, after putting on 179 for the fifth wicket with Cameron Green.
When Green was dismissed for 74, Pat Cummins sent Alex Carey in to the middle – a decision which stunned Test great Ricky Ponting.
"Alex Carey has made his way to the middle, I am dumbfounded," Ponting said on 7.
"I can't see what there is to gain at all. There is nothing to gain."
The flashbacks to last year's draw with India sticks in the minds of many, but clearly didn't play any role in Cummins' thinking.
"It obviously is not, they would have given themselves more time," Ponting added.
"If they are thinking about history, we know that 288 is the most that has been chased here.
"The proof will be in the pudding. But there are still the ghosts of last year."
Green falls after a mighty knock – hammering 74 in a supreme partnership with Usman Khawaja.
Green was going for the big runs, perhaps even with a century in his sights, and top-edges a gentle offering from Jack Leach – which is pouched by Joe Root.
Surprisingly, however, Pat Cummins still hasn't declared. Alex Carey comes out to bat with Australia's lead 387.
He lasts one ball before being caught behind off Leach. But there will be no hat-trick ball because NOW we have a declaration.
England will be asked to chase 388.
Australia is 4-258 thanks to this hefty 172-run partnership between Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green, as drinks come onto the field.
Khawaja just had the SCG crowd on their feet for the second time this Test, becoming the first Australian since Ricky Ponting in 2006 to score twin tons at the SCG.
And in doing so, he's booked a spot in the Hobart Test according to Shane Warne.
“I think he’s just about undroppable,” Warne said on Fox Cricket.
“I was a bit like let’s give (Marcus) Harris this innings, let’s give him the next Test match, that’s how I was, I think Khawaja himself said ‘I understand (Travis) Head will come back and Harris has done pretty well,’ so he fully expects to play in Hobart.
"But I tell you what, the way he’s batted, with the hundred he made and this, he’s making it tough.”
Green has also been outstanding, taking the heat to England to display why some view him as the most important Australian cricketer in 70 years – he's unbeaten on 67, putting on a similar show to his first Test half-century against India at the same ground last year.
But he's unlikely to get the chance to push for three figures – a declaration is fast approaching. All eyes on the SCG players' dressing room and Pat Cummins now.
