Flexible batting order under consideration with XI to face Sri Lanka still up in the air

With the XI to face Sri Lanka in the first Test still up in the air, all options remain on the table for Australian selectors, including taking a radical step rarely seen in the Test format.

Australia is considering taking the radical step of employing a flexible batting order in Sri Lanka as national selectors leave it late to lock in an XI.

With Galle’s Dutch Fort in the background, vice-captain Travis Head revealed the Aussies were looking at taking a leaf out of the famous Dutch Total Football playbook in which all outfield players can play any position.

While perhaps not quite as extreme as that method, it is almost unheard of for a side to go into a Test without a clear and defined batting order.

But with Head’s successful move to the top of the order serving as the idea’s totem, coach Andrew McDonald and his fellow leaders are giving serious consideration to naming different batting lists across Australia’s two innings for the first Test against Sri Lanka, which begins on Wednesday.

Travis Head’s successful opening stint in India could play a major role in Sri Lanka. Picture: Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP

It remains unclear whether Head will open at all in Sri Lanka, or if teenager Sam Konstas will hold his spot in the XI after opening in the final two Tests against India.

But the two scenarios may not be mutually exclusive if Australia decides to prioritise flexibility, meaning Konstas could theoretically open in the first innings and Head the second.

Players like Alex Carey or the uncapped Josh Inglis could also be deployed up or down the order depending on match-ups or conditions, as is more commonplace in white-ball cricket.

“I don’t know where I’m gonna bat at this stage. See how that wicket plays out over the next couple of days, we’ve got to get through a main session today, I guess the staff and selectors, will go through strategy on how we’re gonna win a Test match, and then we’ll line the team up,” Head said before training on Monday.

“It’s probably not just me. It’s just where we think our six batters are going to line up and being flexible around that.

“All you are trying to do is line it up to be flexible around what can win a Test match. If that lends itself to being more traditional on day one and what’s not to say when it does turn and gets extreme, the order may change. A lot’s being drawn to me at the moment and where I may bat but that may be different to everyone.”

Head said the Australian camp had been discussing the idea of a movable order for some time and that conditions in Galle could allow the theory to materialise.

“It’s been a topic of conversation for the last little bit in this team on whether the Australian first innings, second innings, why doesn’t the order change? Why can’t we be flexible? What moves? How can we be brave? That hasn’t played out as such yet. Is this the tour to do it? We’ll wait and see. I feel like this group’s experienced enough and got some really good players that can play in different roles and in different situations of the game, we may draw on different people,” Head said.

“I think people are open to it. The game’s evolving. I don’t think anyone would’ve seen Sam Konstas lapping in the first session of a Test match. The game is evolving so why not continue to see where we can make jumps and leaps and where can we get an advantage? If that’s using people in different positions, it’s not traditionally done a hell of a lot, we haven’t done it yet but does this tour lend itself to that?

“I think this team’s experienced enough and in a great position where players will be open to that if needed to be. We’ll wait and see.”

Spinner Matt Kuhnemann appears likely to be available for the first Test as he continues to train following his finger injury.

Originally published as Flexible batting order under consideration with XI to face Sri Lanka still up in the air