Khawaja quizzed on Australia's opening debate for Lord's

By Jonathan Healy, at Lord's

Australia batter Usman Khawaja is not concerned by who will win the nod to partner him at the top of the order during the ICC World Test Championship Final and is instead focused on making his own solid contribution with the bat during the Ultimate Test at Lord's.

Khawaja has been a mainstay at the top of Australia's batting order for the entire World Test Championship cycle, but the experienced left-hander has had a variety of partners as opener in recent times since the retirement of long-time teammate David Warner.

The Aussies have tried Steve Smith, Nathan McSweeney, Travis Head and Sam Konstas alongside Khawaja since the retirement of Warner from Test cricket at the start of last year and the reigning World Test Championship winners are even considering promoting usual No.3 Marnus Labuschagne up the order for the one-off Test against South Africa.

Both Labuschagne and Konstas are in London and in a head-to-head battle to fill the role as opener against the Proteas, but Khawaja didn't want to be drawn into the debate about who his partner might be when the one-off Test commences in North London on Wednesday.

Khawaja spoke with ICC Digital at Lord's on Sunday and the opener suggested the uncertainity about his opening partner at the World Test Championship Final wasn't providing any distraction for him in the lead-up to the contest.

"Not really, to be honest," Khawaja said when asked about whether the lack of clarity on who will open with him at Lord's effects his mindset.

"Opening is so tough...I'm worried about how the ball is going to bowl to me and what I need to do.

"The opposite, whoever's opening with me is thinking exactly the same. Then we're kind of in the middle working together how we're going to blunt out this attack.

"It doesn't really change my game too much. If anything, the change was probably a little bit quieter without Davey. But for me, it's just about what I need to do for my team and then where I need to work with my partner while I'm out there.”

Just how Khawaja fares during the World Test Championship Final will be pivotal to Australia's chances, with the left-hander having made the most runs for the side during the current cycle with a total of 1,422 runs prior to the Lord's clash.

And while Khawaja knows he is closer to the end of his career than the start, the 38-year-old believes he is still at the top of his game and has no immediate thoughts of retiring while he’s still contributing to the side.

"To me, age is irrelevant," Khawaja stated.

"If I'm still enjoying my game, still training really hard, I'm still scoring runs, still contributing to the team where I can, I've still got the hunger.

"I don't really think of anything as different, but I'm very open. I'm really just enjoying my cricket at the moment. Everything that has a beginning has an end.

"I don't know when that end will be, but for me it's all about staying in the moment, enjoying it one Test match at a time, one series at a time. And when it's time to hang up the boots, I'll gracefully do that, whatever it be.”