Australia welcome a Pakistani

Tony Becca, Contributor

The Ashes is on the way. For those who do not know what the Ashes is, it is the contest, a war between England and Australia, it is played once every two years or so, once in England and once in Australia, and when it is on, nothing else matters, not to England and not to Australia.

When an Ashes contest is over, all the talk, until the next one, is the Ashes, and before this one, the talk has been much more than the last one, including that of 2005 when England beat Australia to register their first victory over Australia since 1989.

Eight times they had met between 1989 and 2005, eight times Australia had won.

On that occasion, Australia vowed revenge when next England went to Australia, and they did redeem themselves.

Led by Shane Warne, their ace leg-spinner, Australia crushed England 5-0 in 2006-07.

This time around, after England won the last contest by a 2-1 margin in 2009, the talk has been great, it is heard right around the world, for the simple reason that, for the first time in a long time, England believe they have a chance in Australia.

And they may be right, especially as there has been nothing, coming from Australia, like "wait until you come to Australia".

This time the talk has been subdued, especially by the Australians. The feeling has been that Australia are finished, that they are not as good as they used to be, and while Australia are cautious, England are confident.

Australia are cautious but they have not given up, for as good as England's bowling appears to be, they believe that their batting is weak.

On top of that, this is an Ashes series, it is being fought in Australia, and the Australians are deadly at home.

The first exchange, the first of the battles, is at the half-way mark, Australia are on top, and they could be one-upping by now or later tonight.

My money is on the Aussies to go all the way.

Talking about Australia brings me to a point: they may be on the way to joining the party and opening up their representation.

Different nationality

Years ago, in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, England allowed the Indians, Ranjitsinghi and Duleepsinghi, to represent them. Here in the Caribbean Ellis Achong, a Chinese, represented the West Indies even though it was not until 1950 when Sonny Ramadhin was selected that one of east Indian descent represented them. Thus from the days of 1928 the West Indies selected players from every corner of the society to represent them.

In the other countries, and despite the stories of the prowess of blacks in South Africa and the Aborigines in Australia, South Africa selected whites only, Australia did the same, New Zealand did the same, Zimbabwe did the same, and with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh selected only players of Indo-Asian extraction, players who looked alike.

Over the years, however, things have changed and some of these countries have allowed players of different nationality, players born elsewhere, and players who live in their country to represent them.

While India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are still represented by their own, South Africa are now represented by blacks and coloureds, Zimbabwe are now represented by blacks, New Zealand have an Indian in their team, England have a host of foreigners in their team, and with the West Indies remaining the same, Australia seem set to change their ways.

Australia seem set to play a Pakistani batsman in their team.

Years ago, Australia selected Graham Thomas, the descendant of an American Indian, in their team, they brought him to the West Indies, he played in the Test matches, and they selected him for the tour of South Africa.

He never played a match because Australia did not want to offend their hosts and he retired after the tour.

Usman Khawaja, 23 years-old, moved to Australia as a boy, he lives in New South Wales, he started playing with NSW in 2008, he has played 24 first-class matches, and as a left-hander he has scored six centuries and seven 50s, last season he scored three centuries, this season he scored a double-century, and he boasts a career average of 50.25.

In July he was selected in the Aussie tour party for the two-Test series against Pakistan in England, and he was called up as standby for Michael Clarke for the first Test of the Ashes series.

Khawaja seems destined to represent Australia, and if and when he does, he will be the first Muslim to represent Australia, and the first Pakistani to represent Australia.

Hopefully, it will be in the Ashes series, and hopefully, he will make a difference.