Khawaja: Hamstring good after T20 ton
Australia batsman Usman Khawaja says his hamstring is feeling stronger than ever after scoring a century for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League on Sunday to all but seal his Test place for Boxing Day.
The left-hander, who opened the batting, scored a superb unbeaten 109 and helped the Thunder beat the Melbourne Stars by one run at the MCG.
Khawaja, who scored consecutive Test centuries against New Zealand earlier in the summer before getting injured, will most likely slot straight back into the Australia team to take on the West Indies in the second Test of the series.
The 29 year-old Khawaja said: "I'm stoked I got some batting time. To score a hundred in a T20 game is not an easy thing to do, so I'm just very happy with how things are working out.
"But there's still a lot of work to do so I'm trying to keep my head down. I feel really good, just normal, general soreness … I pushed myself pretty hard, in terms of my hammy rehab, in terms of my running, in terms of my conditioning work.
"My hamstrings are definitely stronger than they have been in the last three years. The last testing I had to do on Friday was a hamstring strength test and my hamstrings came up stronger than they have been in the last three years.
"I did a lot of hard work in the last four weeks. The trainers up at the NCC pushed me pretty hard. That's what I needed to do. That's all I can control."
The Australia selectors will have a tough choice on who leave out as Shaun Marsh, who replaced Khawaja, scored 182 against the Windies in the first Test.
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