- - Veteran Australia batter Usman Khawaja to retire from international cricket

January 1, 2026 at 11:55 PM

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1 / 2Australia England CricketAustralia's Usman Khawaja sign autograph to fans after they won the third Ashes cricket test match against England in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025 (AP Photo/James Elsby)

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 guaranteed Khawaja’s spot 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 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 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 him to return, before an 82 in the first innings there ensured he would stay in the side for the fourth test in Melbourne.

Khawaja has scored 6,206 runs at an average of 43.49 in his 87 tests with 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

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Source: “AOL Sports”