‘No one knew’: Uzzie reveals truth behind ugly ‘stereotype’… and how Aussie ‘outsider’ became a legend
Readying himself for the seventh Ashes campaign of an evolving career, Usman Khawaja could not help but see the irony in the status he now holds due to the passage of time.
There were lengthy periods where the left-hander, who was named in Australia’s Ashes squad on Wednesday, was out of the national team. His papers appeared stamped, which was always a misreading given his talent, resilience and hunger for runs.
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Now the opener is a fatherly figure in this team, the cricketer who has seen it all, a wizened head hardened by the circus of the international circuit yet feeling more at ease than ever with his place in Australian cricket.
The contentment is in contrast to his debut in the New Year’s Test against England in 2011 when he felt like a stranger in the Australian rooms even though the SCG was akin to his second bedroom.
Almost 15 years on, and with 84 Test matches to his name heading into another Ashes summer, the rooms feel like home.
“I have grown up with these boys. I’m the oldest but, I mean, I was there when Steve Smith was first coming up through first grade,” he told foxsports.com.au in Brisbane recently.
“I was there when Josh Hazlewood played against me when he was 14 in a country (vs city) game. I was growing up at the same time as Starcy, playing with him through second XIs and things. Davey (Warner), obviously, before he left, we played a whole childhood together.
“I grew up playing against Marnus (Labuschagne). I saw him as a young kid coming up in Queensland, (and it was the) same with Heady (as a) young kid. I captained him in Aussie A. So I’ve had relationships with all these guys for a long, long time. Even Nathan Lyon, I’ve played against him for so long now.
“At the start with the Australian cricket team, I always felt like I was a bit of an outsider because of who I was and where I came from. I didn’t really fit the mould of the Australian cricket team, I felt like, at the start. But then when I came back in 2015, it was just a totally different feeling.
“All these guys that I grew up playing with were now the stalwarts and it actually made it a lot more homely, made it nice. I enjoyed it a lot more, and it felt like I was more a part of the team, and they knew what I was about, because they played with me for so long. So I think they were a bit more understanding of myself and inclusive of me too, which was great.”
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Australiaâs Steve Smith (L) and Usman Khawaja walk towards their fielding positions on day two of the fifth cricket Test match between Australia and India at The SCG.Source: AFP
HOW FAITH FUELLED KHAWAJA’S COMEBACK
It is a blight on the verbal aggressors, but Khawaja is sadly used to taunts about his cricket.
He copped it when coming through the ranks in New South Wales. He bore it when in and out of the Aussie cricket team. He was not fit enough. Heck, he and others did not do his homework! Better those bludgers get bounced out of the team.
And as for those MCC Members back in 2023 at Lord’s … some things should never be said.
At the MCG in late 2023 as Cricket Australia unveiled its Multicultural Action Plan, Khawaja spoke about those tough times in his teens and early 20s as others questioned his worth, as he discussed with pride his bid to make the sport more inclusive.
“A lot of the times (there) were stereotypes. But people didn’t understand me or my culture,” he said.
“Me doing Ramadan as a Muslim … no-one had any idea what I was doing. From the naked eye, (coaches would) just look at and think ‘Oh. Uzzie is not training hard enough. He’s not working hard enough.’
“But it’s 6.30 in the arvo and I haven’t eaten or had a drink all day. I’m cooked. But I’m still training. I’m still out there. We’re doing a fitness session (and) yes, I’m lagging behind everyone, but I am still doing the work.”
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Weatherald rewarded as Ashes squad named | 02:48
But the cultural differences do not matter to his peers, those who played with and against him as a kid and saw him as Uzzie, not as Australia’s first Muslim cricketer.
That does not mean the trailblazer’s faith is sidelined or diminished – it remains at the core of his being – just that his mates know who he is, admire the stability he provides at the top of the order while respecting the sacrifices he has made.
Similarly to Queensland teammate Marnus Labuschagne, who looks a certainty to return to international cricket for the Ashes, the 38-year-old credits his faith and his family for enabling him to return to the Australian team time and again.
The left-hander, who made 58 runs in two innings on debut against England in 2011, has almost lost count of the times he has been dropped. But he never lost faith in himself.
“It’s so hard because we’re so competitive and we want to do well all the time, but the older I’ve gotten, the better I’ve gotten at it, and realising I’ve had perspective being in the team, out of the team, having been dropped more than any batsman for Australia ever – like, I was dropped seven times – if it wasn’t for my faith, I don’t think I would have kept lasting,” he said.
“People ask me, ‘Where do you get your strength and perseverance to keep coming back and back?’ And the resilience, it is just from my faith, just because I understand that, ‘Alright, not everything is going to go the way I want it to. But this is my journey. This is the plan that God has for me. So I’ll just continue to go try my best. I’ll try my best.’
“There’s a word in Arabic called Tawakkul and it means ‘Trust in God’. It’s pure trust in God. So if something bad happens, or if something good happens, I always believe there’s a better thing for me later on in life. I think it’s the same for everyone, but whether or not you believe in it’s a different thing, but it’s the same for everyone, I believe.
“And even when bad things happen, that’s why I never get … too down because I always have trust, and that trust always just brings me back up really quickly after any setbacks I have had.
“The journey that I’ve had has been up and down, up and down. I feel like I probably should have played more Test matches than 80 or so after all this time. But I wouldn’t change my journey for any other reason or any other thing, because it was my journey.
“It’s meant to be the way it was meant to be. I don’t believe in sliding doors. So that is faith in itself. I wouldn’t be here with faith in general.”
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THE FAMILY MEN
Truth be told, Khawaja is not the only father figure in the Australian side.
If he feels at home among his peers, it is because most of his teammates are in their 30s and have families of their own as well.
At the completion of Tests during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last summer, one of the joys for the fans who stuck around was to witness the Aussie team in a role where there was no emphasis on holding a bat or wielding a ball.
The kids would roam around the respective grounds, playing with each other, as the Aussie cricketers and their partners enjoyed some family time together. And those are the times where Khawaja feels at his happiest.
“I mean for me, it’s always been faith, family and cricket, pretty much in that specific order. The faith keeps me grounded and it is so important,” he said.
“But the faith, it’s also about being a family man and doing the right thing by my family, looking after each other, look after looking after others, and then realising cricket is not the be all and end all. I think that’s the most important thing.”
If faith helped Khawaja remain resilient as he dealt with various setbacks – at one stage he was without an Australian contract and nowhere near any of the national XIs – he credits his wife Rachel with helping him find perspective.
During his formative time as an Australian cricketer, Khawaja kept himself buttoned down. That, he said, was not necessarily healthy and it probably hindered his cricket. Now he is happier to discuss issues and to take stances where necessary.
“Without the help of Rach, particularly over the last so many years, I don’t think I would have here,” he said.
“But I also think … God gave me Rach to help me through this journey. And without Rachel, I probably wouldn’t have been really strong, because I struggle to open up.
“I’m a ‘90s kid. My dad didn’t talk about emotions. We didn’t talk about emotions. We just dealt with it and got on with it. And I’ve never been good at it either.
“The only one I really talked with Rachel about it. So without her, I would have really struggled, and she’s been my rock the whole way through. So, yeah, both family and religion has played a big part.”
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – JUNE 20: Usman Khawaja of Australia celebrates with his family aSource: Getty Images
A RECORD-BREAKER SETS HIS EYES ON ANOTHER SUMMER
Khawaja, who will turn 39 this summer, has excelled in what has proven a golden twilight, scoring more Test runs (3,166 at 47.25) than any other Aussie batter beyond the age of 35. He sits 16th overall in terms of runs scored for Australia.
But the consensus is that Khawaja begins the Ashes under significant pressure, with the left-hander set to become the nation’s oldest Test batsman since Bob Simpson came out of retirement at the age of 41 when the game was in upheaval in 1977.
He has flourished against England since earning another recall for the SCG Test in 2022, a match where he scored double hundreds to cement his final coming for Australia.
With his blade flashing in Birmingham a year later, the Sydney-raised batter put an end to suggestions he could not handle English conditions with a superb 141 at Edgbaston.
A 77 in the second innings of the infamous Test at Lord’s was crucial, so too the half-century he made to cap the series at The Oval as Australia retained the Urn.
Khawaja, who this week declared teammates Matt Renshaw and Labuschagne as his preferred options at the top of the batting order for the first Ashes Test, is mindful of his own mortality at the crease.
He told Fox Cricket he felt fortunate to have the chance to deliver again this summer and, in a separate interview, noted he could never have imagined what would unfold in his umpteenth coming for Australia.
“If you told me four years ago I’d be playing cricket for Australia at the age of 38, and potentially 39 this December, I would have laughed at you,” he told AAP.
“I feel blessed. I was the World Test Player of the Year (in 2023 and) when you look at some of the names who have won it like (Kumar) Sangakkara, (Ricky) Ponting, (Jacques) Kallis, the greats of the game, to have achieved that at 36 was special.
“I’ve scored a lot of runs and got to play a lot of cricket at the back-end of my career that I never thought I would.”
