Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and Steven Smith: Australia's Dynamic Trio
Usman Khawaja continued his gigantic appetite for runs by scoring yet another century on day one. Adam Voges and Steven Smith continued to feast on the hapless West Indies as they piled on the runs on day two of the second Test in Melbourne.
- Siddharth Vishwanathan
- Updated: December 27, 2015 02:36 PM IST
Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith and Adam Voges. These three batsmen are fast becoming the new core of run-making in the Australian batting. While 26-year-old Smith, the Australian captain, continues his magnificent form in Tests, 36-year-old Voges is enjoying a new lease of life by scoring centuries for fun. In the middle, 29-year-old Khawaja is on a red-hot streak after making a comeback to the Test team. (Steven Smith, Adam Voges Put Australia in Command)
Australia continued the domination of the West Indies on the second day of the second Test in Melbourne. Batsmen achieved plenty of milestones and they were well complimented by the bowlers. At the end of day two, West Indies are in a hopeless 91/6, still trailing by 460 runs. Here are some of the achievements of the Australian batsmen in Melbourne
- Voges became the second Australian batsmen to go past 1000 runs in Tests in 2015. His captain, Smith, is the leading run-getter of 2015 with 1404 runs at an average of 70.20.
- Voges' current average is 85.66. Against the West Indies, he averages a freakish 542. In four innings, he has scored 542 runs and he has not been dismissed in three out of the four innings. His scores against the West Indies have been 130*, 37, 269* and 106*.
- Australia have scored a total of 1134 runs and have lost only seven wickets in the two Tests so far. Their batting average of 162 is their highest ever in a series.
- This is the third instance where four out of the top five batsmen have scored centuries in a Test. Pakistan achieved this feat against Bangladesh in 2001 in Multan while India also achieved it against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2007.
- Voges' also became the second Australian batsmen to score 1000 runs in his debut Test year. In 1989, former Australian skipper Mark Taylor had scored 1219 runs at an average of 64.16
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- Before Khawaja's return to the Test fold in the 2015 series against New Zealand, he had scored 377 runs in 15 innings at an average of 25.33. Now, in four Tests since, he has scored 448 runs in three innings at an average of 129.3.
-Khawaja is in a rich vein of form as well. Before the Melbourne Test against West Indies, Khawaja had smashed an unbeaten 109 for the Sydney Thunder against Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League. Thus, in four matches, he has four hundreds across all formats.