Usman Khawaja watched Australia win first Ashes Test against England on TV
BBC Test Match Special commentator Alison Mitchell recalled her encounter with Australian star Usman Khawaja after winning the first Ashes Test.
Usman Khawaja couldn't bear to watch the remainder of Australia versus England in the first Ashes Test as the game hung in the balance at Edgbaston, according to BBC Test Match Special commentator Alison Mitchell.
Khawaja racked up 141 runs in the first innings but fell on 65 with the score set at 209/7 with just Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood left to come in.
Mitchell recalled a chat with Khawaja after the match where he admitted he thought he'd left too many runs on the board for the tail end to sweep up, and consequently trudged out of the dressing room into the bowels of the ground to watch the remainder of the match on TV instead.
In an exclusive chat with RadioTimes.com, Mitchell said: "I spoke to Khawaja on the outfield after the game. Obviously he got out and there'd been a little bit of talk about how he hadn't really stepped on the run rate and worrying Australia were really losing momentum in that run chase.
"First of all, he said he had a plan, he had intended to bat until the last hour and then step on and change gear but he got dismissed and he thought he'd left too many runs out there for the rest of them to get, so he went up into the dressing room and he couldn't bear to watch live.
Test Match Special sets new record
There was record breaking digital demand for Test Match Special (TMS) coverage across the BBC, with Tuesday’s final day of the first Test giving BBC Sounds its biggest day yet, with unprecedented figures for hours listened and signed in accounts.
There were just under six million requests across BBC Sounds and BBC Sport (online and app) across the five-day Test with huge numbers especially tuning in on the last two days of play (19-20th June).
"He went out to one of the rooms out the back of the dressing room and had it on a television screen, but the TV had a 40-second delay. He said it was awful, you would hear a cheer from outside, and a cheer kind of told him it was a wicket - yet he hadn't seen it on the screen. He was just sitting up there going, 'Please, no cheers, no cheers,' because that would obviously be the England support."
Khawaja had cause for concern at the time, with England hunting down the remaining wickets with plenty of time left to accomplish their task, but a superb last stand from captain Cummins and spin bowler Lyon saw them rack up 60 between them to tip the visitors over the edge.
Mitchell continued: "Then the winning runs were hit and he just heard the cheer from the dressing room and the Aussies, so he knew it was Australia's win. He just charged out of the dressing room, hadn't even seen it come up on the television screen at that point, but he heard the noise from the boys and just ran, and didn't know what happened after that! Just chaos.
"There was so much nervous energy in the dressing room, he couldn't be in the balcony area watching. It reminded me of Mark Wood saying he watched the climax of the 2019 World Cup final sitting on a washing machine in the laundry room at the back of the dressing room. It was brilliant!"
The Ashes 2nd Test begins on Wednesday 28th June live on Test Match Special via Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds.
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Authors
Michael Potts is the Sport Editor for Radio Times, covering all of the biggest sporting events across the globe with previews, features, interviews and more. He has worked for Radio Times since 2019 and previously worked on the sport desk at Express.co.uk after starting his career writing features for What Culture. He achieved a first-class degree in Sports Journalism in 2014.
