Selectors not letting me settle: Khawaja

Sydney, October 16 

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has criticised the country’s selection policy and says the constant team changes hampered his attempts to develop his all-round game.

The 30-year-old left-hander scored 55 runs in four innings during Australia’s 3-0 Test series defeat in Sri Lanka in 2016 before being dropped for the third Test. He then scored half-centuries in six consecutive home Tests but did not play in the four-Test series in India this year. Khawaja was brought back for the first Test in Bangladesh, only to be dropped for the second match of the series.

“They never used to do it before, I’m not really sure why they do it now,” Khawaja said of the selection policy. “It creates a lot of instability in the team I reckon, going in and out for everyone. You hear things like ‘the players are playing afraid’ or whatnot, but that’s what happens when you drop players all the time. We’ve been doing that a fair bit lately.”

The Pakistan-born cricketer has played 24 Tests since making his debut in the 2011 Ashes series against England and has scored five hundreds, averaging over 45. The Queensland captain is in good form in domestic cricket and is expected to earn a place in Australia’s top order in the Ashes series against England which starts next month.

“For some reason it seems like lately in Australia that the best players always seem to be the next guy in, which I don’t totally agree with,” he said. “(It is) very hard to develop your game and play some consistent cricket if you’re not getting consistent opportunities overseas, which I haven’t been getting. It’s frustrating but I’ve just got to focus on what’s in front of me. I’d love to win an Ashes series — it’s something I haven’t been able to do yet.” — Reuters

It’s a war: Warner on Ashes

• David Warner says playing England is “war” and he plans to work up “hatred” for the tourists for extra motivation during the upcoming Ashes series.”The history, the pride that is at stake. As soon as you step on that line it’s war,” Warner said, when asked what the Ashes meant to him. “You try and get into a battle as quick as you can. I try and look in the opposition’s eye and work out how can I dislike this player, how can I get on top of him. You’ve got to find that spark in yourself to really take it to the opposition. You have to delve and dig deep into yourself to get some sort of hatred about them.”