‘Blessing in disguise’ that sparked Travis Head’s World Cup final heroics
Travis Head continued a remarkable year in global finals with man-of-the-match honours against India — months after being dropped from the Australian team in the same country.
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Being dropped for the first Test in India nine months ago proved the impetus for Travis Head’s thunderous century in the World Cup final.
Head further vindicated the faith of Australia’s selectors to leave him in the World Cup squad for the early stages of the tournament despite his unavailability with a broken hand, smacking 137 from 120 balls to earn player of the final honours as the Aussies claimed a sixth one-day world title by beating India in Ahmedabad.
It continued a remarkable year for Head in global finals given he was also player of the match in the World Test Championship final and the World Cup semi-final.
That is all a far cry from February when Head was a shock omission for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Nagpur.
Head was soon recalled, and has not looked back. He revealed after the World Cup final that he had worked with Australian coach Andrew McDonald on Saturday with a view to batting more like he had once recalled to the Test side in India.
“I spoke yesterday to Ron (McDonald) about trying to get back to how I played in the Test series, staying very leg-side getting the legs out of the way and hitting the ball and being positive,” Head said.
“I didn’t think I was gonna need that in one-day cricket, the ball took some spin today and I was pleased that I drew back on those experiences and I guess to have composure, it’s nice.”
Head said being left out of that first Test may have helped him in the long run.
“Maybe it was a blessing in disguise because it gave me a week in India, gave me a look at what it was like gave me an extra week to work on things I wanted to work on,” Head said.
“Get a sneak peek of what I was going to walk into in that series. And then open the batting which I think is probably the best place to bat in that sort of series and those wickets so I was fortunate how the cards fell in that series but then I was able to have a chance to get some runs. So yeah drew back on that that blueprint and the memories that I had from that and the way I played so it was nice to be able to do that.”
Head also took a beauty in the field during the final, tracking back with the flight of the ball to remove Indian captain Rohit Sharma.
About the only error the South Australian made was not encouraging Steve Smith to review an lbw decision from umpire Richard Illingworth. Ball tracking technology ultimately showed that the delivery from Jasprit Bumrah had hit Smith outside the line of off-stump.
The projection was shown on the big screen at the Narendra Modi Stadium, briefly distracting new batter Marnus Labuschagne.
“Marn rides every wave so I’m looking at the big screen, Marn’s shaking his head and blowing up at the other end,” Head said.
“They played it straight away…he’s down there kicking dirt, shaking his head.”
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Originally published as ‘Blessing in disguise’ that sparked Travis Head’s World Cup final heroics
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