Usman Khawaja's revelation about wife after BBL cameo almost ends in embarrassment

Usman Khawaja has his wife Rachel to thank for averting a mini disaster in the Big Bash on Wednesday night after breaking his bat just four balls into his innings. Khawaja was finally able to display the dove and olive branch symbols of peace that the ICC had banned during Australia's Test series against Pakistan, with the Heat captain making his statement in Brisbane's 23-run win over the Perth Scorchers.

The victory ensured the Heat of a top-placed finish and they will now host the BBL qualifier on the Gold Coast on January 19 against the team that finishes second. The winner of that match will go straight into the final. Khawaja returned to captain the Heat against the Scorchers, where he was joined by Marnus Labuschagne for a one-match cameo before both men leave to prepare for Australia's Test series against the West Indies starting next week.

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Khawaja displayed the dove and a reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on his bat in a move to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. However, Khawaja only managed to face four balls before having to replace his bat after cracking two boundaries in a fast start for the home side.

Unfortunately for the Heat skipper, the replacement bat didn't have the peace symbols on it but the situation could have been much worse for the 37-year-old if he hadn't listened to his wife. Speaking to the Seven broadcasting team as he was changing over bats, Khawaja revealed it was his wife that convinced him to pack an extra bat - in what proved to be a crucial piece of advice.

“That’s crapped itself just there,” Khawaja said about his broken first bat. “The shoulder of the blade has broken off. I said to the wife today and I said ‘I think I’m just going to go with one bat’. She said ‘you can’t just go with one bat’. I said ‘I think I’ll be alright’. I ended up packing one other bat. Doesn’t even have face on it. She is the prepared one. You know what the wives do, they look after us. I just go with the flow.”

Usman Khawaja broke bat hitting first boundary

Khawaja said he thought he might have broken the bat after cracking his first boundary and actually hit the second four with the faulty piece of willow. “I think I actually broke it with the first four, I think I hit the next four with a broken bat,” Khawaja said on Fox Sports.

“I said to Munners (Colin Munro) ‘I swore I hit that better’. He said ‘yeah, I thought you did too’. Then I looked down and realised what had happened. I had no idea, but it made sense — I just thought I was shanking them.”

The new bat failed to produce the goods for Khawaja as he was caught out for 14, with Labuschagne adding 45 after the home side lost a slew of early wickets. Man-of-the-match Michael Neser top-scored for the Heat with a career-best BBL knock of 64 not out from 30 deliveries, to help Brisbane reach an impressive 6-191 after they were reeling at 5-91 in the 13th over.

Neser also picked up two wickets (2-31), including the prized scalp of Perth danger man Zac Crawley (13) early on. He topped off the dazzling display with a superb running catch at deep mid-on to send Josh Inglis (28 off 20) packing when the Scorchers batter was looking particularly dangerous.

Laurie Evans top-scored with 51 for the Scorchers but he had little help from his teammates as the visitors fell short of Brisbane's total. Ashton Agar (2-29 off four) was the pick of the bowlers for Perth, with Australian Test squad member Matt Renshaw (18 off 15) among his two scalps. However, the night belonged to Neser and the Heat, who are now in an unassailable position on top of the ladder, five points clear of defending champions Perth.

with AAP

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