Australia Domestic: Usman Khawaja guides New South Wales to 168

Australia Domestic: Usman Khawaja guides New South Wales to 168

Pakistan-born Usman Khawaja’s quickfire 65 helped New South Wales to 168-7 against Victoria in the Twenty20 Big Bash being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

NSW captain Moises Henriques won the toss and elected to bat first. The wicket was flat and the there was not much assistance for the bowlers. However, the Victorian bowlers started well.

There was a lot expected from the star openers of NSW, David Warner and Phillip Hughes, who have represented Australia at the international level.

Both Hughes and Warner were out early and did not trouble the scores much. Hughes was the first wicket to fall when he had scored just 2 runs. He flashed at a wide ball and was caught at third man.

Although Warner struck a couple of boundaries, he got out after scoring 10 runs. He hit the shot from the middle of his bat but the ball went straight towards the fielder. The wicketkeeper batsman Daniel Smith also followed Warner and NSW were 3 down for 28 runs.

Usman Khawaja was joined at the crease by Henriques and the pair took the team out of trouble. After a 41-run partnership with Khawaja, Henriques was dismissed. He scored a quickfire 20 off 12 balls. The team was in a grim state when Ben Rohrer fell without scoring.

NSW were 69 for 5 but the innings were held together by Khawaja and Steve O’Keefe. Both players scored half centuries and took the team to a respectable total. Khawaja was the top scorer in the innings with 65 whereas Steve scored 50 runs.

Dirk Nannes and James Pattinson were in devastating form. Both the bowlers took three wickets each and did not give away too many runs in their allotted overs. The disappointment for Victoria was their star fast bowler Peter Siddle. He did not pick up any wicket and gave away 44 runs from his 4 overs.

Victoria will be confident of chasing down the total posted by the NSW batsmen. They have the batting line-up to cope with the NSW bowlers. However, they will be depending on the in-form Aaron Finch to lead the chase.