Ashes 2025-26: 'The day one wicket is a piece of s***' - Usman Khawaja's no-holds-barred opinion on Perth surface

The International Cricket Council (ICC) gave the highest possible rating to the pitch at the Optus Stadium in Perth, which staged the first Ashes Test between Australia and England. The match was over inside a couple of days, as almost two innings were completed on the opening day itself, where Australia chased down the 204-run target set by the Englishmen.

Australia opening batter Usman Khawaja was forced to bat in the middle order and had a poor outing in the first innings. Giving his honest assessment on the nature of the pitch at Perth, the Islamabad-born said that the pitch was nowhere close to being a friendly wicket to bat on, as a whopping nineteen wickets had fallen on the opening day, and pacers got extra assistance off it.

"Nineteen wickets on the first day, about 20 people got hit – that’s a great wicket, that seems real fair? The same thing happened last year, that day one wicket," Khawaja was quoted as saying by Daily Mail UK.

"The day one wicket is a piece of s***, I’m happy to say that. They do get better day two, day three, but day four they start to crack up again. We know day two and day three is usually the best time to bat. That’s why whenever we play at Perth and we win the toss we bat first, hoping that we can bat again maybe end of day two into day three," Khawaja added.

Notably, Khawaja had been going through a back spasm throughout the Perth Test, and due to being off the field during Australia's bowling, he was not allowed to open the innings on both the occasions. He, however, is confident of finding his mojo back for the second Test, which will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane. 

Khawaja has been named in the squad for the Brisbane encounter, but it is not clear whether the Aussies would want to continue with him as the opener. In other news, though, the hosts will still be without pace duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, as the squad for the second game is unchanged from the one that was there for the opener.

Australia squad for 2nd Ashes Test: Steven Smith (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschange, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Usman Khawaja, Michael Neser, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster