Travis Head in box seat for first Test after keeping head switched on
Travis Head’s no-nonsense attitude has helped him ride the wave of a form dip to edge ahead in the race for selection for the first Test of the summer against Pakistan at the Gabba.
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Travis Head never saw the axe coming.
One moment he was the Australian vice-captain and the team’s highest run-scorer since Sandpapergate.
Next minute he was walking laps of The Oval with Justin Langer, being told why he was benched for the last Test of the Ashes.
It was a shock. It was a profound disappointment. But by the end of the stroll around the ground, Head realised he had no one to blame but himself.
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In theory it was a ‘team balance’ decision to replace him for all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who could offer support to an exhausted bowling line-up pushing to the finish line.
Not that the reason matters much when you then make a scratchy start to the domestic summer and suddenly the dogs are barking about whether you’ll make it back for the first Test.
Selectors are often criticised - recently unfairly - for a supposed lack of communication with players. However, that certainly hasn’t been Head’s experience, and others could learn from his no-nonsense attitude.
With the Melbourne Cup run and won and the contenders now rounding the bend for the home straight of the Gabba Stakes, Head looks to have his nose back in front.
Taking a long walk with his executioners at The Oval helped him get back to work without the burden of a chip on his shoulder. And Head delivered in the clutch moment, producing a hundred for South Australia against NSW’s all-star attack featuring Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.
“We were just chatting through a range of things,” Head recalls of his walk with the boss.
“A bit about the series, a bit about my batting, a bit about things we were working on. And obviously going through the disappointment of missing out.
“It was more so a chat just making sure everyone was clear with everything and we were on the same page. We are and it’s all good.
“It was nice to have a chat with obviously him and Cracker (National Selector, Trevor Hohns) about the reasons why and the things I need to get better at and the things I need to work on to make sure when I’m in the same position I’m staying in the side.
“(I didn’t really see it coming). It’d been a pretty good 12 months. It was disappointing not to play the last Test and hopefully contribute to a win … I thought my first three Tests were really good, but I let myself down.
“I got off to a good start in the second innings at Leeds (third Test) and then didn’t play the way I would have liked in Manchester (fourth Test).
“The one thing I was missing was that big score.”
Head appears to be in a two-way battle with young gun Will Pucovski for the vacant No. 5 position.
Head has averaged 42 in his 12 Test matches, and that combined with a recent ton will be hard to trump, although both men have a final chance in Monday’s selection shootout for Australia A against Pakistan in Perth to push their case.
When Head was announced as vice-captain at the end of last summer, Tim Paine said the South Australian had the game to be the next skipper, albeit with a lot of water to go under the bridge.
Head emphatically denies that any chatter or inferred link between him and the potential of Test captaincy put extra pressure on him in England.
“It’s not something I’m worried about really,” he said.
“I never felt any expectation at all.”