3 highest run-scorers from Australia in Ashes among active players
Australia are set to embark on another pulsating chapter of the Ashes. They come into the five-Test series on the back of phenomenal success in the 2021-23 cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC).
Pat Cummins and his men trounced India by 209 runs in the WTC final at the Oval to be crowned as champions of the second edition of ICC's premier championship for Test cricket.
However, Australia has unfinished business in Ashes 2023, having not won a Test series in England since 2001.
Australia have retained the last three editions of the Ashes with their batting unit being one of their strengths. Let's take a look at three Australian batters with most runs in the Ashes.
#3. Usman Khawaja (882)
Usman Khawaja has made giant strides to earn his spot in the Australian Test side over the last couple of years. Khawaja made his Test debut against England in the Sydney Test of the 2010-11 Ashes. He made 37 and 21, with Australia losing the match by an innings and 83 runs.
The Queensland batter has featured in five Ashes series so far, having scored 882 runs in 15 matches at an average of 47.62 with the help of three fifties and three centuries.
Khawaja's best performance in the Ashes came in the 2017-18 home series, where he scored 333 runs in seven innings, including a sublime 171 in the final Test in Sydney.
Khawaja was dropped from Australia's team after failing to score runs in the first three Tests of the 2019 Ashes (122 at 20.33).
He made a resounding comeback with twin centuries in the Sydney Test in the 2021-22 series. This will be Khawaja's third Ashes in England.
#2. David Warner (1888)
David Warner is apparently playing his last Ashes, given his plans to retire from the longest format in January 2024.
The swashbuckling Australian opener has played 28 Ashes Tests across six editions from 2013 to 2022. Warner has scored 1,888 runs against England at an average of 38.53, including three centuries.
The 2013/14 Ashes was a memorable one for Warner as he racked up 523 runs at an average of 58.11 with two centuries and as many fifties.
However, the 2019 Ashes creeped doubts in Warner's mind as he endured one of his worst series with the bat. He could manage only 95 runs in 10 innings at 34.13. England pacer Stuart Broad made the Australian opener his bunny.
The upcoming series will serve as a farewell against England and also for a sturdy comeback against Broad.
#1. Steve Smith (3,044)
The current Australian Test vice-captain is the only active player from both teams to feature in the top 10 run-getters of all-time in Ashes cricket.
Steve Smith's love for batting against England is no secret. Out of his 8,947 runs in Test cricket, Smith has scored 3,044 runs against England, which is 34.02% of his tally in the format.
Smith scored more than 500 runs in successive Ashes series - 687 in 2017-18 and 774 in 2019.
He was sensational in the 2019 series, averaging 110.57. That series marked an emphatic return to Test cricket after an absence of more than a year following the Sandpaper Gate scandal. The 34-year-old will aim to break into the top three run-getters by the end of Ashes 2023.