SYDNEY (AP) — Veteran Australia batter Usman Khawaja has announced he will retire from international cricket after the fifth Ashes test beginning Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
It will be the 39-year-old Khawaja’s 88th and final test — played at the ground where he began his first-class career.
Khawaja informed his teammates on Friday morning that he would be retiring 15 years after making his test debut in 2011.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald earlier this week said Khawaja would be included in the side for the SCG test but would not guarantee the left-hander’s future beyond that.
Australia, with a 3-1 lead going into the fifth test, has retained the Ashes.
Khawaja moved to Sydney from Pakistan as a child, becoming the first Muslim player to take the field for Australia, and scored his first Ashes century at the SCG with 171 against England in 2018.
It was also at that the SCG where he revived his career at age 35, scoring twin centuries against England when Travis Head missed a test in 2022 through COVID. That prompted one of the great late-career revivals, as Khawaja hit seven centuries in his next two years back in the side.
Khawaja’s position had come under scrutiny and criticism this season after being unable to open in the first Ashes test in Perth due to back spasms and then missing the Brisbane test with the injury.
He was then initially left out in Adelaide until Steve Smith’s vertigo allowed Khawaja to return, before an 82 in the first innings there ensured he would stay in the side for the fourth test in Melbourne.
“It felt like (it was) attacking. It was disappointing,” Khawaja said of the criticism. “Saying I was selfish for staying on. But I wasn’t staying on for myself.
“I guess moving into this series, I had an inkling this would be the last series. I’m glad I can go out on my own terms.”
Khawaja has scored 6,206 runs at an average of 43.49 in his 87 tests with 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries.
“Usman has made a huge contribution to Australian cricket both through his outstanding achievements as one of our most stylish and resilient batters . . . and off field, particularly through the Usman Khawaja Foundation,” Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said in a statement.
“Usman has been one of Australia’s most reliable opening batters and testament to his success was him being named ICC test cricketer of the year the same season that Australia won the World Test Championship (in 2023).”
Khawaja said his No. 1 emotion on announcing his retirement was “contentment.”
“I’m very lucky to have played so many games for Australia the way I have,” Khawaja said. “I hope I have inspired people along the way.”
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