Ashes 2023: Usman Khawaja brushes off Ollie Robinson exchange as ‘friendly banter’

Celebrating his favourite Test win to date with Australia, Usman Khawaja had little time to care about a run of exchanges with England seamer Ollie Robinson, writes DANIEL CHERNY.

Usman Khawaja has downplayed his final day exchange with Ollie Robinson, describing it as “just a bit of friendly banter.”

Khawaja was named player of the match after enduring England’s attack for more than 500 balls, making 141 and 65 to lay the foundation for Australia’s thrilling two-wicket win at Edgbaston in the first Ashes Test.

In doing so he became just the second Australian after Kim Hughes to bat on all five days of a Test.

The veteran opener also had a running battle with England medium-pacer Robinson, who fired up with a seemingly expletive-laden send-off when he eventually removed Khawaja in the first innings.

The pair also had a moment during a drinks break on day five, with Robinson’s fellow seamer Jimmy Anderson appearing to take the heat out of the situation by ushering Robinson from Khawaja and fellow Aussie batter Travis Head.

Ollie Robinson has plenty to say to Usman Khawaja over the course of the match. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

But speaking after the match, Khawaja said neither interaction was a big deal.

“The other day, the crowd was so loud I had no idea.” Khawaja said.

“Today there was nothing much in it. Just a bit of friendly banter. This game was played in pretty good spirits for most of it.

“It’s not just about winning, it’s about how we win, which has changed a lot from past years I played cricket.

“I think the game was played in pretty good spirits.”

Asked a follow-up question, Khawaja said: “There wasn’t much in it. There’s no point in me talking about it.”

Robinson had earlier defended his conduct in celebrating the first innings wicket.

“I don’t really care how it’s perceived. It’s the Ashes, professional sport. If you can’t handle that, what can you handle?” Robinson said.

Khawaja meanwhile said this Edgbaston win was the favourite team performance of his career to date.

“That’s right up there. SCG (twin tons v England in 20022) was special, it was unexpected. My career was over in my head. I’ve said it a million times but it was. Hard to beat that from an individual point of view but from a team point of view and wins this is by far my favorite match ever in my life.

“I’ve grown up watching highlights of the Ashes, watching Beefy (Ian Botham) smack them around and take wickets. What Freddie (Andrew Flintoff) did sticks out in my head from 2005. Those sorts of things, those sorts of highlights that you keep seeing on TV. I mean, as much as I hate it, Stokesy’s (Ben Stokes’) Headingley innings was unbelievable. I respect what he did in that game. I don’t think we’ll see anything like that for a long time and then when this game, the way it ebbed and flowed, the way they came out, the way we counterattacked, it looked like we’d lost the game probably with an hour to go and to come back and win?”

Usman Khawaja batted on all five days of the Test. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Khawaja added that winning the first Test would set the tone for the series.

“I’m always big on the first game of the Ashes. If you win the first game of the Ashes you set yourself up to win the series. There’s no guarantees, we’re in England, they’re a good side but that first game is always big.

“Even last time we won the first game here at Edgbaston and that was big for us. We probably should have won that series but Stokesy denied us. But we still obviously retained that series based on that first game and Ashes Test matches are as tough as it gets. So the first game is huge. I think that’s an important one.

“We haven’t won a close game for a while, especially in Ashes. It seems like we always just miss out. It was nice to get one that we actually did win and I’ll enjoy seeing the highlights of that in the future.”

Originally published as Ashes 2023: Usman Khawaja brushes off Ollie Robinson exchange as ‘friendly banter’