Almost three weeks back, Usman Khawaja was attacked by a bunch of MCC patrons inside the Lord's Long Room during the second match of the ongoing Ashes Test series in the wake of that contentious dismissal of Jonny Bairstow leading up to Australia's series-retaining win. The Australia star, along with Marnus Labuschagne, faced a similar during the fifth and final Ashes match at the Kennington Oval in London last week after a footage revealed an English spectator verbally attacking Australian players.
It was a frustrating Day 3 for the Aussies as England raced away to colossal lead in the match after scripting another Bazball blitz, courtesy of efforts from Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and captain Ben Stokes. As the Australian players made their way back to the pavilion through the stands, one of the spectators at the Oval was filmed yelling “boring” at each of the players as they walked up the stairs. Labuschagne and Khawaja received a similar treatment, but while others ignored it, they were left fuming at the fan and charged at him.
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The Australia opener urged the man to “calm down”, while Labuschagne asked him, “What did you say? What did you say, mate? You’re just about to go at everyone else.” Upon being confronted, the spectator was quick to respond with an apology.
{{/usCountry}}The Australia opener urged the man to “calm down”, while Labuschagne asked him, “What did you say? What did you say, mate? You’re just about to go at everyone else.” Upon being confronted, the spectator was quick to respond with an apology.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier this month, Lord's Long Room witnessed a shameful incident when Khawaja and David Warner were verbally attack in a nasty exchange when the Australian players retired to the sheds. Both the Australia batters were eventually held back by the security after they confronted one of the MCC members before umpire Chris Gaffaney was forced to intervene. Later, MCC suspended three members for abusing the Aussies during the Lord's Test.
On Sunday, majority of the proceedings were washed out due to a heavy spell of rain in London, but Australian openers in Khawaja and Warner put on a resilient show against a mighty chase of 384. They stitched an unbeaten 135-run stand with both scoring their respective fifties before stumps was called. Australia will resume the final day of the Ashes series with 249 runs to chase, having 10 wickets in hand.