Usman Khawaja’s public spat with Queensland hierarchy will fuel the veteran batsman in the Sheffield Shield final against South Australia, his captain Marnus Labuschagne says.
SA, seeking to win the shield for the first time in 29 years, have axed legspinner LLoyd Pope while Khawaja enters the five-day decider at Adelaide’s Karen Rolton Oval starting Wednesday amid controversy.
The Test opener missed Queensland’s last shield game – also against SA at the same venue – because of a hamstring niggle and then was embroiled in a war of words with the state’s cricket director Joe Dawes.
Dawes believed Khawaja could have played in the game, which the 38-year-old slammed as “categorically untrue”.
Khawaja returns for the shield final and Labuschagne rejected suggestions the controversy was a distraction in the Queensland camp.t
“No, not all,” Labuschagne told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.
“If anything it will probably improve his performance.
“He loves big moments, he’s been amazing player for a long time, so I don’t think will have any issues getting going out there.”
SA captain Nathan McSweeney, a Queensland-born batsman whose talent was initially spotted by Labuschagne as a 10-year-old, confirmed legspinner Pope would be squeezed out of the home state’s team.
Pope took 21 wickets in five shield games this season but will miss the final on a Karen Rolton Oval pitch both captains believe will assist pace bowling more than spin.
“Lloyd’s been great for us this year and his efforts are a great reason why we’re here and playing in a shield final,” McSweeney told reporters.
“Karen Rolton Oval is typically a tough ground to bowl spin on.
Usman Khawaja enjoyed a strong tour of Sri Lanka. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“And the wicket has a little bit more moisture in it so hence we’re going with an extra (pace) bowler.
“It’s a tough decision but I think when you’re in finals, you’ve got to make tough decisions, and unfortunately he’s the one that is missing out.”
McSweeney said his team required no reminder of the fact that SA’s shield drought dates back to 1995/96, but was bullish after topping the shield table by 15 points to earn hosting rights.
“Everyone knows we haven’t had the success that we would have liked over the last number of years,” he said.
“This group, we’ve had a great year.
“But what’s the job that we can do right now? And it’s prepare really well, which we’ve done this week, and go out there and try and execute as best we can.
“Hopefully that means we’re on the right side of the ledger at the end of the day.
“A lot of the boys have come from interstate … we’ve been given opportunity for a team that hasn’t had heaps of success.
“But we’ve been able to build it over the last few years as a group.”
© AAP
