Khawaja joins Tendulkar, Worrell in heartbreak list

As tough as it appears, Australia skipper Pat Cummins will be anxious he and fellow bowlers somehow deliver victory against South Africa in the Sydney Test on Sunday to sweep the series 3-0. A draw looks the likely outcome, though reducing South Africa to 149/6 in reply to their first innings of 475/4 declared would keep Aussies hoping on a final-day SCG pitch.

Rain and bad light have led to the loss of 170 overs, with no play possible from after tea on the second day until well after lunch on Saturday, Day 4. And but for seepage through the seam in the covers, play could well have resumed early. While all this would justify the declaration by Cummins, Usman Khawaja would be dejected after missing out on his first double century.

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The left-handed opener, 36, is enjoying a great run. On 195 not out when play was halted on Thursday, the declaration meant Khawaja joined West Indies great Frank Worrell (197*) and Sachin Tendulkar (194*), the other two batters who were stranded following declarations.

Worrell was left short in the Bridgetown Test against England in 1960—his home ground—when skipper Gerry Alexander declared with West Indies on 563/8, after a 299-run partnership with Garry Sobers, who made 226. It didn’t help as England were 71/0 in 42 overs and the match was drawn.

Interestingly, Worrell, a revered figure in cricket, had also been left unbeaten on 191 when Windies were bowled out at Nottingham on the 1957 tour of England. The 197 not out was his last century—he didn’t get to triple figures in the 18 more Tests he played over the three-and-a-half years before his Test career ended.

Tendulkar was on 194—he was at the other end when Virender Sehwag (309) scored a historic first Test triple century by an Indian--at Multan against Pakistan in 2004 when Rahul Dravid, standing in for the injured Sourav Ganguly, declared to spark some controversy.

Dravid had told the batters—Yuvraj Singh was the other—that he planned to declare soon, though Tendulkar’s comments at the end of play sparked a major debate.

“Obviously I’m a little disappointed, having got so close. I was aware that the declaration was around the corner, but when it came I was taken by surprise...we were playing very positively at that time,” he said.

India’s New Zealand coach John Wright, in his book John Wright’s Indian Summers, says that a quicker declaration by Dravid, faster scoring by Tendulkar or the team giving back to Indian cricket’s stalwart by waiting for his double could have helped avoid any unpleasantness.

“I should have convinced Dravid to declare earlier and he should have grasped that it's one thing to declare when a batsman's 170 or 180, quite another when he's 194. And Tendulkar should have pushed to get there quicker,” wrote Wright. India won their first series in Pakistan 2-1 and Dravid’s decision was eventually acknowledged as positive.

Khawaja had hoped on Friday that Cummins would give him the opportunity to get his first Test double, saying “I think it’d be pretty harsh if he bowled straight away... He's been in the changing room taking the mickey out of me. We could go out there and get a few more runs really quickly or we could declare pretty much straightaway. I'm not the captain. I don't make those decisions. A result is very unlikely, let's be honest, but it's still possible," Khawaja was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Fans were critical of Khawaja being denied the opportunity, though former spinner Kerry O’Keeffe, doing commentary on Fox Cricket, said: “I can’t see the point in Australia continuing to bat despite the milestone.”