He said he took a fitness test a month ago and could only run at 70%.
Usman Khawaja has hit back at Queensland Cricket after accusations about him deliberately missing the last Sheffield Shield game against South Australia. In the press conference before the training session in Brisbane, the left-hander exclaimed that Joe Dawes, Queensland Cricket’s general manager, had said a few “inflammatory things” that were disappointing as a player.
“There’s a lot of misinformation being thrown around. The most disappointing thing was, I try to keep this as in-house as possible behind the scenes. It’s obviously not anymore. Joe Dawes came out the other day and said a few inflammatory things, which was really disappointing to me as a player, and after that, I just felt like I had to speak up and say something, and give my side a story.”
Khawaja added that Joey’s comments that the medical staff wasn’t aware of his hamstring injury are untrue. He was in constant touch with the Australian physio and reported his hamstring issue to them.
“Joey said that the medical staff had no idea. That is 100% wrong. I’ve talked to both our physios. I’ve talked to the Australian physio. I was talking to the Australian physio the whole time. It’s on our athlete management system (AMS). My hammy is reported. Everything is there. Everyone knew about it. That was probably one of the most shocking things I heard. It was really disappointing because it’s categorically untrue. So I just wanted to clear that up, that the physios 100% knew about my hammy injury.”
Usman Khawaja also stated that he had a fitness test with Queensland physio Stephen Timms on his hamstring before the Tasmania game, where he could only run at 70%. He was also in touch with George Bailey and the Australian team physio, Nick Jones, who advised him not to play back-to-back games.
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However, Khawaja has confirmed that he is willing to push for the Sheffield Shield final next week. He will get a good break after this game to prepare for the World Test Championship (WTC) final and can recover.
“Hammy is feeling pretty good. I’ve gone pretty hard on some of my loading on it over the last week and a half. I haven’t sprinted yet, so that’s the final thing. So I’ll have a little run today. I’ll have another little run on Sunday. And obviously, if everything’s going well, yeah, I should be fine. To be honest, if it feels like it still did in Tassie, I’m still willing to push for the Shield final. Was just hard to push for the game before, knowing that if I injured myself then I was gone for the Shield final.”
The Sheffield Shield final will begin on March 26 at the Karen Rolton Oval, Adelaide. Khawaja’s presence will significantly bolster Queensland’s batting unit.
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