The Ashes: Cricket Australia boss Todd Greenberg ticks off Usman Khawaja's pre-Ashes golf round

Cricket Australia has leapt to the defence of Usman Khawaja after the under-fire opener was criticised for his decision to play golf the day before the Ashes.

Khawaja wasn’t eligible to open in Australia’s first innings at a sold-out Perth Stadium on Friday after spending too long off the field during England’s knock, dealing with a tight back and then back spasms.

It meant Marnus Labuschagne had to open alongside debutant Jake Weatherald, and Steve Smith was forced to come in at No.3.

Weatherald fell for a second-ball duck, Labuschagne struggled on the way to nine off 41 balls while Smith copped a series of blows on the way to 17.

Khawaja made just two batting at No.4, meaning he has now failed to post a half-century in his past 11 Test innings.

Australia ended the day at a disastrous 9-123 in reply to England’s 172.

Khawaja, who turns 39 next month, played golf with Mitchell Starc on Thursday, just 24 hours before the start of the Ashes.

Fans and experts have been quick to criticise the left-hander for that decision, but CA chief executive Todd Greenberg didn’t have an issue with it.

“It (playing golf before a Test) has held him in good stead over the last couple of years. It’s not uncommon for a lot of them to play golf a day prior,” Greenberg told SEN.

“Did that correlate to any of the issues? I personally don’t think so.

“Usman’s a very seasoned campaigner, he knows his body well, and he knows how to get himself prepared for cricket. So I think that (saying golf was to blame) is drawing a long bow.

“A lot of people talk about cricket being played between the ears.

“So getting some time away from being in your hotel or at training I think is really important.

“I noticed Mitch Starc played golf with him, so it certainly didn’t impact his performance (given he snared 7-58).”

Starc also defended Khawaja’s preparation.

“It’s interesting that there are lots of opinions from people that aren’t in the change room,” Starc said.

“We’ll let the opinions be the opinions.

“We know what’s going on in the change room. It was unfortunate that was the case - he had a back spasm, there’s not much you can do about that.”