Usman Khawaja scores century in comeback Test as Australia declare on 416-8 on day two at SCG.; Stuart Broad takes 19th five-wicket haul and eighth in the Ashes; England close on 13-0 after tricky 20-minute spell before stumps. with Zak Crawley reprieved by Mitchell Starc no-ball on nought
Thursday 6 January 2022 12:09, UK
Usman Khawaja completed his ninth Test hundred after being dropped on 28 as Australia made England toil on day two of the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney despite Stuart Broad claiming a five-wicket haul.
Khawaja - playing his first Test since 2019 as a replacement for the Covid-hit Travis Head - reached three figures from 201 balls and was eventually bowled by Broad (5-101) for 137 shortly before Australia declared on 416-8.
That left England a tricky 20-minute spell before stumps which openers Zak Crawley (2no) and Haseeb Hameed (2no) managed to survive - with Crawley reprieved by a no-ball after edging Mitchell Starc behind on nought.
The day belonged to two 35-year-olds, with Khawaja completing his first Test hundred in almost three years and Broad clinching his 19th five-wicket haul in Test cricket and eighth against Australia.
Khawaja was given a reprieve early in his innings with Joe Root unable to cling on to a catch at slip, via a deflection off Jos Buttler's glove and thigh, once Jack Leach found the left-hander's edge, but he went on to play the classiest of knocks on his return to the Australia side.
It was another pretty chastening day for England on a tumultuous tour, which was exacerbated by all-rounder Ben Stokes injuring his side while bowling a barrage of bouncers.
Mark Wood bowled well for no reward but Broad was the chief plus point, becoming England's second-most prolific bowler in Ashes Tests with 125 scalps - above the late Bob Willis (123) and behind only Sir Ian Botham (128) - as he added Steve Smith (67), Cameron Green (5), Australia captain Pat Cummins (24) and Khawaja to his first-day dismissal of David Warner (30).
Broad struck twice with the second new ball, having Smith caught by Buttler to snap a fourth-wicket stand of 115 with Khawaja and then forcing Green to edge through to Crawley at slip four overs later, at which point Australia were 242-5 and England were buoyant.
However, Khawaja led the rebuild alongside Alex Carey (13), Cummins (24) and Mitchell Starc (34no), clinching his first Test ton in almost three years shortly before the tea interval when he clipped Leach off his pads for three, as his wife and child watched on from the SCG stands.
Australia's total is 119 more than England's top score in the series so far - the tourists maxing out at 297 in the second innings at Brisbane - and the hosts will now be confident of pressing for a fourth straight victory in this series despite the possibility of further bad weather over the coming days.
Just 46.5 overs were possible on day one due to wet weather and there were three rain breaks on the morning of day two once Australia resumed on 126-3 - Khawaja beginning on four and Smith six.
Smith passed fifty for the sixth successive Test innings at the SCG but was unable to turn that into a fourth hundred at the venue as he snicked a Broad delivery that angled in and then nipped away behind to Buttler.
Broad then matched Willis' total of Ashes wickets when Green nicked off, while he surpassed that tally early in the final session when he had Cummins caught behind on review - third umpire Paul Wilson deciding a snorter of a short ball had brushed Cummins' bat handle.
Broad thought he had dismissed Cummins two overs earlier but the lbw decision was overturned on review with the seamer's nip-backer from wide of the crease set to bypass the leg stump.
Khawaja added 43 with Carey - who was caught at mid-on after taking on Root - for the sixth wicket, 46 with Cummins for the seventh and then 67 with Starc before his elegant innings was ended when he inside-edged a Broad leg-cutter onto his stumps.
No 10 Nathan Lyon then swatted Mark Wood for four and Broad for four and six, with his maximum off Broad triggering Australia's declaration.
- Stuart Broad became the oldest England seamer to take a five-wicket haul in Australia since Freddie Brown took 5-49 at Melbourne in 1951 at the age of 40
- When he reached 113, Usman Khawaja became the 200th player to score at least 3,000 Test runs
- Before this Test, Nathan Lyon had scored a total of 17 runs in 10 Tests at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Today he scored 16 runs in only 12 minutes!
Stuart Broad, speaking to BT Sport: "I still feel like I have a lot to offer this team. Whether that is playing week in, week out like I did when I was 26, 27, maybe not. But I'm old and experienced enough to know how to bowl on different pitches and how to get myself ready and right when the chances come.
"I think when you haven't been playing, particularly at 35 years old, you realise how special it is. I've had points in my career where I've felt like I've always been playing. That's not happened in 2021 and it's my job to make that happen in 2022.
"I think every seamer kept running in as hard as we could all day. I look at Mark Wood's last spell, he deserved two or three wickets in that spell alone - he bowled fantastically all day.
"Test cricket a lot of the time is about character and it was a day when we had to keep trucking in. It was Australia's day - there is a chance there that we could have bowled them out for 350 but it didn't quite work for us and 400 is always a psychological thing on the scoreboard."
I look at Mark Wood's last spell, he deserved two or three wickets in that spell alone - he bowled fantastically all day.
Sky Sports' Michael Atherton: "The straw to cling to for England was Broad, a 19th five-for in Test cricket. He bowled really well and showed all his class and competitiveness. As always, when he feels he's got a point to prove, he produces.
"Wood has bowled with real aggression throughout. He bowled quickly, James Anderson was fine and then there's a drop off, partly because Jack Leach is offering neither control nor threat.
"After everything that happened at The Gabba when Australia took him down, Root has decided to set very defensive fields with four or five men out and now Australia are just milking him really, in particular the left-handers."
