In the ongoing first match of the Ashes 2023 between England and Australia, Ben Stokes came up with an unconventional field set-up to get rid of Usman Khawaja, who scored a century at Edgbaston, Birmingham. It was on day 3 when Stokes brought six fielders in the catching position, barely leaving any gap for Khawaja to score some runs in front of the wicket.

The English speedster Ollie Robinson bowled a yorker length and Usman danced down the pitch to breach the six fielders but miscued it completely and the ball went on to crash his stumps. Earlier, Australia’s explosive opener Usman Khawaja made his first Test hundred in England and led the battle on Day 2 of the first Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Only in Test Cricket 😍

An unconventional field setup from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 forced Usman Khawaja to come down the track and ended up getting bowled 😲👏#SonySportsNetwork #TheAshes #ENGvAUS #RivalsForever pic.twitter.com/jb0XKnBJCv

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) June 18, 2023

Khawaja batted well despite Australia kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, and he also stitched a crucial 81-run partnership with Travis Head for the fourth wicket with both batters reaching their half-centuries before Moeen Ali cleaned up Head in the 46th over. He again made a 72-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ashes debutant Cameron Green, putting Australia in a commanding position on Day 2.

Moments after Green’s wicket, Usman reached his maiden century on English soil by hitting Stokes for a boundary in the 69th over. He took 199 balls to reach the three-figure mark. This was Khawaja’s 15th Test century and his fourth against England. 

After Khawaja collected his ton, his colleague Travis Head spoke about the same with Sky Sports and said, “It’s a huge weight off his shoulders. As an international cricketer, everyone talks about hundreds overseas and he hasn’t had the greatest of times leading into this series. I know he is determined and once he got through the new ball, he played beautifully”.