Foes become friends after rocky start
Two of New South Wales’ brightest young players have come a long way since Moises Henriques Mankaded Usman Khawaja in the first game they played together
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Two of New South Wales’ brightest young players have come a long way since Moises Henriques Mankaded Usman Khawaja in the first game they played together. In the Sydney Morning Herald Andrew Stevenson takes a look at the duo’s development, which peaked with a dramatic 90-run partnership against Victoria.
The 21-year-olds - Khawaja was born in Pakistan and Henriques in Portugal - might be an emblematic pair showing off a new face of Australian cricket. They might be great mates who've known each other since they were 10, who've played junior cricket together for Australia and who share a burning ambition to wear the baggy green. But not all the history is good.
"We didn't get along too well to start off," Henriques says in masterly understatement. "The first game we played against each other 'Ussie' kept backing up two or three metres as I was bowling, so, not really knowing the rules, I Mankaded him and he was given out."
Khawaja, who went into the match with two centuries under his belt, didn't say much - and not just because he's too well brought up. "I think he was crying," Henriques says. "Yeah, there might have been something like that," admits Khawaja, who still has a video of the incident. Friendship came soon after.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo