‘You decide your destiny’: Why Michael Vaughan is urging Khawaja to bow out in Sydney

2 months ago 5

Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan has urged Usman Khawaja to consider retiring on his own terms at the SCG and says England must avoid a heavy defeat in Sydney to ensure the continuation of the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era.

Khawaja is weighing up whether to bow out in the city he grew up in but has provided no indication to teammates or Australian coaches ahead of the squad’s first training session in Sydney on Thursday.

The 39-year-old has averaged 25.93 and 36.11 in the past two years and was the beneficiary when Steve Smith’s illness before the third Test in Adelaide opened the door for his return to the XI, having originally been left out.

Vaughan, the former England captain and commentator for Kayo Sports this summer, said a Sydney farewell would be fitting for Khawaja as Australia eye a 4-1 series result. The fifth Test begins on Sunday.

“I would say to Usman, ‘Don’t let them decide. You decide your destiny’,” Vaughan said. “When someone has been playing for so long, we’ve just got to let them decide. Usman has had an incredible career and not many get the chance to say goodbye on their own terms at their own venue.

“If he doesn’t do that, he runs the risk of his career ending not on his own terms. I can’t think of a better way to say goodbye than at his home ground in an Ashes series.

“If Uzzie has got the energy and capacity to really want to fight on, yeah, I could see that happening, but leaving in Sydney in an Ashes series sounds pretty good to me.

“The likes of Matt Renshaw, Nathan McSweeney, Campbell Kellaway and Ollie Peake, they’re the players we’ve got to get into the Australian side in the next year or so.”

Khawaja has returned to the middle order to accommodate Travis Head and Jake Weatherald as openers. Weatherald’s last two Tests have produced scores of 18, 1, 10 and 5.

Vaughan expects Australia to persist with Weatherald in Sydney but is concerned by a technical flaw.

“At times he’s looked OK. That head position outside off stump is going to be a real problem for him,” Vaughan said. “He can’t keep falling over to those straight balls. He’ll need some decent runs in Sydney, I’m sure, to carry on his dream of playing for Australia for a long period of time.

“Five matches is a good chunk of opportunity for any player.”

England’s victory in Melbourne was their first on Australian soil since 2011, but Vaughan argued it came in unusual circumstances.

“I think it’s a massive game for England [in Sydney]. It’s nice to win a game of cricket, but let’s be honest, it was a complete lottery in Melbourne. It wasn’t a proper game of Test match cricket,” Vaughan said.

Skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.

A poor display in Sydney, following a fifth successive series in which England have failed to regain the urn, could spell trouble for coach McCullum and skipper Stokes.

“For the future and for this management in particular, they need to win a strong game of cricket here … that’s not a two-dayer,” he said.

“For this management to carry on, the likes of Ben and Baz – I’m pretty sure they will carry on – but I think they need a good week for that to be absolutely rock solid.

“There’s a huge appetite within the group to keep [McCullum] on. But fundamentally, if they get pummelled in Sydney, there needs to be some honest conversations.

“I think chopping and changing is not necessarily the right thing for English cricket. Whatever happens at the end of this tour, they’ve got to accept that they got a lot of things wrong.

“If they’re going to be so stubborn to think that they were a bit unlucky, or things didn’t quite go the way they wanted … well, we have a problem going forward.

“The key is maturity and that’s the one thing that I think this team can be a lot better at, in terms of the way they play and talk.

“If they can accept that, I have no problem with the management staying the same.”

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