Justin Langer confirms Usman Khawaja’s replacement: The Australian coach was vocal about Usman Khawaja’s replacement vs England.
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Australia had received a major blow during their last league stage match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 against South Africa. Other than losing a tightly-fought contest by 10 runs, Australia also suffered a couple of injuries in batsman Usman Khawaja and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.
After undergoing scans the next day, Khawaja was ruled out of the tournament. On the contrary, Stoinis has regained fitness and will take field in the second semi-final of the World Cup between Australia and England.
In the nine ODIs which Khawaja played in the tournament, he scored 316 runs at an average of 35.11 and a strike rate of 88.26 including a couple of half-centuries. The southpaw might not have been in the best of forms but he surely played several crucial knocks for his team.
Justin Langer confirms Usman Khawaja’s replacement
In a recent media interaction, Australia coach Justin Langer named Khawaja’s replacement for the imminent match against their arch-rivals. Peter Handscomb, who had been called-up as Shaun Marsh’s replacement, will replace Khawaja in the Playing XI on Thursday in Birmingham.
Handscomb, who was representing Australia A in England, is coming on the back of scores 64, 28* and 57. Since making his comeback into the squad against India earlier this year, Handscomb has scored 479 runs in 13 ODIs at an average of 43.54 and a strike rate of 98.15 including a century and three half-centuries.
NEWS: Australia head coach Justin Langer confirms Peter Handscomb will come into Australia’s XI in place of Usman Khawaja for the #CWC19 semi-final against England on Thursday.
He’ll be playing his first World Cup game. No pressure… 😬#AUSvENG | #CmonAussie pic.twitter.com/DyZcNA8W4w
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) July 9, 2019
As far as replacing Khawaja in the squad is concerned, wicket-keeper batsman Matthew Wade has been official included into the squad. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who was called in as a potential replacement for Stoinis, has not been included and will continue to play for Australia A in England.
It is worth mentioning that even Wade has performed incredibly well in the ongoing Australia A tour of England. The 31-year old cricketer has registered scores of 117, 155, 41 and 42 in four List A innings.
