Australia star opening batter Usman Khawaja has said that they are focused on winning games and it will automatically help improve their position in World Test Championship. Australia are gearing up for their two-match Test series against New Zealand, which will kick off on Thursday at the Basin Reserve. In the WTC rankings, New Zealand sit at the top with three wins and a loss, which translate into 36 points and a point percentage of 75.
Australia, the current WTC champions, are in third place with six wins, three losses and a draw after 10 Tests. Their total points are 66 and their point percentage is 55.00.
Ahead of the two-match Test series, Khawaja said they will have a closer look at the position table closer to the WTC final.
“It’s always at the back of your mind. We talk about it here and there, but this far out it’s a bit hard because we know all we need to do is win games to keep that percentage up,” Khawaja said as quoted from cricket.com.au.
“You probably don’t start to take real notice until maybe the end of this year when India starts (their tour of Australia), you think ‘okay, what’s the scenario’ because the World Test Championship then is quite close. But at the moment, it’s just about winning as many games as we can and not worrying about the points table because if we’re winning, that will literally take care of itself,” Khawaja added.
The left-handed batter went on to talk about the Basin Reserve pitch, which holds a reputation for providing a quick and fast surface to the pacers.
“That wicket looks pretty green out there. It’s hard to know, sometimes the New Zealand wickets look worse than they play. It depends on what the conditions are above – when the sun comes out, even if you have a really green wicket, if you get through the new ball it can be a pretty nice place to bat. But overcast conditions, a green wicket it can be quite tough,” Khawaja said.
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc
New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.
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