Australia in Sri Lanka: Josh Inglis gets ribbed while waiting for first Test dig

Josh Inglis would have hoped to spend his first day as a Test cricketer smacking bouncers to the boundary, but instead spent it swatting away Usman Khawaja’s jokes about his English heritage.

Yorkshire-born Inglis officially became Australia’s 470th Test cricketer in the series opener against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, some 15 years after his family emigrated to Perth.

Inglis’s partner, son and parents were in attendance as former Test batter and fellow West Australian Geoff Marsh presented him with his baggy green in an emotional pre-match ceremony in Galle.

But Usman Khawaja (147no) and Steve Smith (104no) enjoyed extended stays at the crease on Wednesday, delaying the new No.5’s first dig as a Test cricketer for at least another day.

As if the wait wasn’t agonising enough, Khawaja used Inglis’s debut as an opportunity to try out some gags.

“There’s been a lot of jokes, probably from me because I’m Pakistani, I like to joke about his heritage,” Khawaja said as Australia went to stumps at 2-330.

“I asked him if (Yorkshire cricket legend) Geoffrey Boycott was going to give him his hat today. Then we just started rattling off lots of Yorkshire players.”

No-one was immune to Khawaja’s jibes.

“I made a joke again when his dad was tearing up: ‘Is that because he’s not playing for England?’,” the opener said.

Behind the banter, Khawaja likely had the best understanding of the emotions the Inglis clan had been feeling, with his cricket-mad family also having moved to Australia during his childhood.

“I know what it meant for my dad when I played for Australia,” he said.

“Our dads, the ones that love cricket, the ones who are our heart and soul, all those Sundays and Saturdays that go into it. It’s very special.”

Inglis beat recent debutant Nathan McSweeney to the middle-order vacancy that opened when Travis Head (57 from 40 balls) shifted to the top of the batting order.

The 29-year-old has been a regular member of Test squads in recent times as back-up wicketkeeper to Alex Carey and has played 55 white-ball matches for Australia.

Inglis has averaged 72.6 across three matches for Western Australia this summer and is known for his proficiency facing spin.

“He’s a terrific player. I look forward to seeing him bat out there because I think these conditions will very much suit him,” Khawaja said.

Australia went to stumps well in control of the first of two Test matches, but recent history has warned Khawaja against becoming complacent.

In the second Test of Australia’s last visit to Sri Lanka, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith each recorded first-innings centuries, only for Dinesh Chandimal to strike back with an unbeaten double hundred of his own.

On Test debut, off-spinner Prabath Jayasuriya came up with two six-wicket hauls as Sri Lanka defeated their guests by an innings and 39 runs.

“You never get ahead of yourself in Galle,” Khawaja said.

“We learned that last time, particularly in the second game, so we’ll be taking that into this game.”