Usman Khwaja

 

Usman Khwaja named the State Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal night in Melbourne in February

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Usman Khawaja born 18 December 1986 in Islamabad, Pakistan is an Australian cricketer. He was awarded player of the Australian Under 19 Championship in 2005 and also played for Australia in the 2006 U-19 Crciket World Cup in Sri Lanka as an opening batsman. His club side is Randwick-Petersham.

A left-hand top order batsman, Khawaja made his first class debut for the NSW Blues in 2008. In the same year, he hit consecutive double centuries for the NSW Second XI – a feat never before achieved by a NSW player. On 22 June 2010 it was announced by Cricket Australia that Usman Khawaja would be a part of the Australian touring squad to play Pakistan in a two Test series in England.

Khawaja was selected as part of the 17-man Australian squad for the 2010-11 Ashes series. During the third test, Ricky Ponting fractured his finger and Khawaja was named as a stand-by if Ponting couldn’t recover in time. He was subsequently selected in the Australian cricket team to play England in the fifth Test against England in Sydney on 3 January 2011. On 3 January 2011, Khawaja became the 419th  Australian to be presented with an Australian Cricket Test baggy green cap. Khawaja became the first Muslim and first Pakistani-born player to play test cricket for Australia, and only the seventh foreign-born cricketer to do so in the last 80 years. He signed a contract to play for county side Derbyshire in the 2011 English domestic season. Other than being a cricket player, Khawaja is a qualified pilot, completing a Bachelors degree in Aviation from the UNSW before he made his test debut. He got his pilot licence before his driving licence. Usman is an ex-student of Westfields Sports High School, which has also had a hand in the early sporting careers of Michael Clarke (vice-captain of the current Australian cricket team), football (soccer) player Harry Kewell and world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels.

 

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