Travis Head is back in Test contention with an 11th, timely first-class ton against New South Wales
Travis Head has given national Test selectors plenty to consider with a century against a quality NSW attack in the Sheffield Shield clash at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
SA Cricket
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The “disappointment” Travis Head felt as coach Justin Langer explained his Ashes demotion over laps of The Oval was replaced by relief at grinding the ton that could trigger a Brisbane Test recall.
If an 11th first-class century against New South Wales in Adelaide wasn’t Head’s finest, it was his most timely as the race for first Test selection against Pakistan enters the home run.
A five-day break afforded by state coach Jamie Siddons after last week’s one-day game in Brisbane proved the perfect tonic for Head given Glenn Maxwell’s sabbatical.
“I have been trying hard to get runs and sometimes mentally and physically you can feel the pinch. Five days off was nice,” said Head who had first-class scores of 51, 0 and 12 since he was dropped after the Manchester Test in England.
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Head took on a quality Blues attack featuring four current or former Test bowlers with Tom Cooper (37) the only support in a 73-run, fourth-wicket stand. The Redbacks (7-222) trailed the Blues by 67 runs at stumps with Head (109) exiting to an uppish drive at Josh Hazlewood (1/58).
Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon (1/42) and Trent Copeland (2/62) targeted Head relentlessly on off-stump while Harry Conway’s (2/43) inswing to the left-hander added a further degree of difficulty.
“There was a lot of hard work, pleased to contribute but not with how it finished,” said Head.
“They bowled extremely well, a high class bowling attack so it was good to grind, battle my way through.”
Head said The Oval chat with Langer felt “a world away” but addressed things he ‘needed to get better at’.
“The bowlers have had some sound game plans to me and until now I haven’t put pressure back on them,” said Head.
“I get another opportunity in the next couple of days to win a game.”
The mental release was evident as Head slowly raised weary arms to celebrate the cut shot off Australian seamer Hazlewood to point that kept him in first Test calculations.
Head, incumbent opener Marcus Harris, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and revitalized Nic Maddinson are the five Australia A batsman with Test experience competing to impress national selectors against Pakistan in Perth next week. Victorian Will Pucovski is on the scent of a Test debut.
Another compelling knock against Pakistan will make it hard for selectors to ignore the case of a batsman who averages 42.7 at Test level.
Earlier, Chadd Sayers’ career best 8/64 was the best figures by a Redback since Jason Gillespie’s 8/50 in 2001-02 against NSW in Sydney. Blues debutant Daniel Solway’s unbeaten ton (133) – was responsible for a par 289 total.