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Khawaja set to be issued with please explain over Perth pitch comments
SEN • November 29th, 2025 6:48 pm
Following his comments where he described the pitch at Perth Stadium for the First Ashes Test as a “piece of s—t”, Usman Khawaja is set to be issued with a please explain from Cricket Australia.
It is reported that CA officials were dissatisfied with comments made by the opener at a lunch event for his own charity, considering that match referee Ranjan Madugalle had rated it as a ‘very good’ surface on Thursday, which is the highest rating an ICC official can give for a pitch.
This is despite the match having been completed in the space of two days.
At that event, the 85-time Test opener for Australia would call out the surface due to the number of wickets lost and batsmen such as Steve Smith getting hit as a result of the bounce generated, having noted that it is not the first time that the wicket had produced a similar result on Day 1.
“Nineteen wickets on the first day and about 20 people got hit, that’s a great wicket, that seems real fair,” he said.
“Steve Smith’s by far the best cricketer I’ve ever played with, and he’s missing the middle of his bat by a long way – he does not miss the middle of his bat. He’s getting hit in the elbow.
“Up and down (movement) is the hardest, sideways is a little bit easier, but up and down, your hands can’t catch up.
“So, day one wicket at (Perth) is a piece of s —t, I’m happy to say that. It has been last year; it was this year.”
The Queensland representative would go on to say that the pitch does get better to bat on after the first day of play in a five-day Test match.
“They do get better. Day two, day three, and then day four, they start to crack up and cure again,” he said.
“We know day two, day three is usually the best time to bat. So, whenever we play in Perth, it’s one of the few places we win the toss and bat first, hoping that we can bat again maybe the end of day two and into day three.”
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