Australia v New Zealand: Another wasted opportunity haunts Travis Head
An ideal opportunity to capitalise and cement his place in the Australian top six after his Ashes dropping was there for the taking for Travis Head.
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Travis Head walked off Perth Stadium with a neat half century but it still left a question mark rather than an exclamation point hovering over his status in Australian cricket.
Test greats Mark Waugh, Michael Vaughan and Ricky Ponting said the South Australian can’t afford to keep throwing hundreds away.
Head had done all the hard work by surviving against a hooping pink ball on the opening night of the Test, and stroking his way past 50.
An ideal opportunity to capitalise and cement his place in the Australian top six after his Ashes dropping was there for the taking.
But in all too familiar fashion, a loose shot through cover off the bowling of Tim Southee picked out a deliberately placed fieldsmen.
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Of the eight times he’s now passed 50 in Test cricket, only once has Head converted for a century.
Fox Cricket expert Mark Waugh declared the wasted opportunity summed up Head’s current predicament at international level.
“That’s his whole career,” said Waugh.
“When you are causing your own downfall that’s the worst thing.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan said Head was failing to learn from his mistakes.
“That’s not a smart play from Travis Head,” said Vaughan.
“Travis Head has missed an opportunity to really establish himself in the Test team.”
Ponting said Head’s Test record was simply a reflection of his shortcomings at state level where he has been out in the 50s on 16 occasions and has made 43 half centuries from 100 games.
The Test captaincy great said Head could no longer be satisfied with making starts and squandering them and called on him to try and learn from the achievements of Marnus Labuschagne.
“You mentioned that it’s hard to be critical of someone getting 56, but I reckon that’s where you’ve got to be more critical of these guys. Every batsman is going to go out and get knocked over early, get a good ball early,” Ponting said on Channel 7.
“But when you get to 56 that’s when you’ve got to click up into another gear. You’ve got to be hungry to make those big scores, those big 100s.
“We haven’t seen Labuschagne do that. Has he given it away once? No, he hasn’t given it away at all since he’s been back in the Test team. He’s not just going to chip one to cover and be happy with a 50.
“It’s one thing to be positive, it’s one thing to score quickly. But sometimes you’ve just got to look at the game and look at how the opposition are trying to get you out. And sometimes you’ve got to pull your ego in as a result of that.”
Originally published as Australia v New Zealand: Another wasted opportunity haunts Travis Head
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