Khawaja must fix 'technical flaw': Ponting

Nov 25, 2017 - 1:20 AM Ricky Ponting has spotted a "technical flaw" in Usman Khawaja's batting against spin but backed the Australian No.3 to eliminate it from his game.

However, former English opener Rob Key reckons Khawaja may as well be dropped, pointing the finger of blame at selectors for not sticking with him on the subcontinent.

Brought back into the Test side after missing the recent tour of Bangladesh, the left-hander once again showed his susceptibility to slow bowling when he was trapped lbw by Moeen Ali for 11 on day two of the Ashes opener in Brisbane.

It was the 12th time he had fallen to spin and just the third ball he faced from Ali on Friday.

Ponting, who overcame his own troubles against tweakers early in his career, said it was obvious why it kept happening.

"There's no doubt there's a technical flaw there somewhere," the former Test captain told cricket.com.au.

"I think he makes two pronounced movements; he makes an initial movement forward and across, which is similar to what I used to do.

"And then he makes another movement into the ball, which gets his head outside the line of the ball, hence he misses the straighter delivery.

"But with a bit of talking and a bit of coaching and maybe a different mindset from Usman, I think it can be changed pretty quickly. I think he's got the talent to do it."

But Key, who was part of the 2002-03 England side that toured Australia, said Khawaja's spin struggles were down to a "haphazard" selection policy and predicted he could be replaced by Glenn Maxwell for the second Test in Adelaide.

"I feel for Khawaja... (but) you may as well just drop him because the way he plays spin, as soon as he comes in, Ali will be on," Key told Sky Sports UK.

"The Australian selectors have a lot to answer for.

"I think (they) have put so much pressure on Khawaja by the way they just discarded him in the subcontinent."

Source: AAP