Khawaja in doubt for Gabba as Windies crushed

Australian opener copped a nasty knock to the face with his team needing just one run for victory.

Usman Khawaja passed a concussion test after he was struck on the head with Australia needing one run for victory in the Adelaide Test, but will be reassessed over coming days before he is cleared to play the second Test in Brisbane on Thursday.

The Australians beat the West Indies by 10 wickets before lunch on the third day of the match. Asked to score just 26 to win, Khawaja was struck a frightening blow to the jaw by tearaway pace sensation Shamar Joseph.

The West Indian debutant, who had taken Steve Smith’s wicket with his first delivery in Test cricket, had a game to remember, scoring runs with the bat, taking five wickets in the first innings and then felling the veteran Khawaja in the last over of the game.

The batsman left the Adelaide Oval for scans while his teammates celebrated another victory.

The West Indies flattered, briefly, to deceive in this match, but Australia proved too strong, consistent and experienced to allow the visitors a sniff of victory.

Usman Khawaja retires hurt at Adelaide Ovel Picture: AFP

Thirty wickets had fallen inside seven sessions on a wicket that was probably a little too difficult – 20 of them were Windies batters. Josh Hazlewood’s 5-35 gave him nine for the match. It was the 11th time he’d taken five wickets in an innings, but he is yet to take 10 in a match.

Hazlewood has taken 20 wicket at an average of 15 this summer.

“He is flying at the moment,” Cummins said about the bowler who has struggled for fitness in recent summers. “Getting 7up to Test level in terms of getting your body ready for Tests, once you are OK, but if you have an injury or setback it’s sometimes hard to get going.

“I think he just had some injuries at the wrong times over the last couple of years and missed a couple of key series, but he is back to the Joshy we all remember and know and it just shows his worth to the team with a new ball.

“You can strike early and having two or three down before you kind of know it. Right handers, left handers, in all conditions he finds a way and as a captain, it’s pretty easy to give him the ball and just know he’s gonna go to work and yeah, he showed his class on two very different wickets – that he’ll find a way to take command of the game.”

Disappointingly there was little room to exam Steve Smith in his new position of opener.

He’d scored just 12 in the first innings and was 11no when the winning runs were scored.

Australia is almost unbeatable at home, losing just two of its past 26 Tests on these shores – and both of those to India.

Adelaide fans were upset the Test was not scheduled in its normal timeslot, irritated by the fact it featured the same opposition as last summer and annoyed that their day night fixture had been transferred to Brisbane.

What really got to them, however, was scheduling the Test on a Wednesday not Thursday. It was never going to make it to the weekend.

The wicket at Adelaide Oval has a reputation as one of the more difficult in first-class cricket and proves even more difficult when a fast bowling attack as good as Australia’s is unleashed on it.

Travis Head says there is some relief for batters in day-night matches because the pink ball gets soft and lets some air out of the bowler’s tyres but this batch of red Kookaburras have proven particularly resistant this summer. They’ve provided swing and their seam, often criticised for going flat, has stayed proud.

Batters never looked set in the match. To that end Kirk McKenzie’s 50 from 94 deliveries in the first innings showed promise.

He faced twice as many balls as any of his teammates.

So too Khawaja’s 45 from 111 deliveries.

“My first couple of summers it felt like even the games that we won, or in particular the games that we won, you were bowling 45 overs as a quick bowler, like you’re finishing on day five, and you’re pretty bruised and battered,” Cummins said.

“We haven’t really had that for the last couple of summers. It feels like you know, the 100 that Trav got yesterday holds even more significance. You’ve got to earn every run you get. So I love it. It feels like you’re always in the game even if you’re out of it and feels like when you’re a little bit ahead a half-an-hour can change the game.”

The two batters who looked best on the wicket were the two who pin their ears back and belt bowlers off their line. Shamar Joseph at 11 had fun, but Hazlewood explained that away by suggesting that a good ball to someone in the top order can easily be belted into the crowd by a slogger.

Head’s 119 was a fine knock and one he worked hard to achieve, battling early but eventually bludgeoning the bowling into submission.