Head shot: Why Trav’s latest blast adds to selectors’ Test opening headache

Brandishing his bat like a claymore brought down from Scotland, Travis Head pillaged England at Trent Bridge to add further momentum to his case for accompanying Usman Khawaja at the top of the Test batting order this summer.

Khawaja has already stated publicly that he likes the idea of partnering Head at the top. Steve Smith has indicated he will bat wherever the team thinks best, having passed 50 just once in eight innings as an opener after David Warner’s retirement in January.

Travis Head delivered a crunching performance against England.Credit: Getty Images

Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green and Mitch Marsh are all options to open with Khawaja should the selectors choose to return Smith to the middle order. All played at Nottingham; their conversations with selectors Andrew McDonald and Tony Dodemaide are the source of almost as much interest as the England series itself.

But having said plenty with the bat, Head was the embodiment of taciturn about the Test batting order: “Keep the chatter, it makes it interesting ... I’m not going to dive into that. I’ll just let that play out.”

One of many variables to be considered is the fact that in recent times, Test pitches have seldom been as friendly for batting as 50-over surfaces often are. Head’s fearless striking of the new white ball has been just as destructive at No.5 in Tests, where he is granted more of a buffer.

“Head is a serious player,” said Marcus Trescothick, England’s interim coach. “Sometimes ‘width’ is even middle-and-off stump for him because he creates that room so well.”

Chasing 316, the Australians careered away to win by seven wickets with six overs to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the five-game ODI series, a matter of hours after the national women’s team also chased successfully against New Zealand in Mackay.

It was a particularly satisfying night for Head, who made a typically sketchy start before clattering a destructive, unbeaten 154 off 129 balls. His sixth and biggest ODI hundred was also the highest ODI score by an Australian in England. Head had plenty of help from Labuschagne, who reprised a supporting role in last year’s World Cup final with a fluent 77 from 62 balls.

After the virus that ruled out Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, and a pectoral injury to Ben Dwarshuis that meant he could only bowl four overs, the Australians showed great resourcefulness with the ball to keep England to a middling total after they threatened to pass 400.

Head was the only member of the Australian side to play in the 2018 game on this ground when England hammered 481 during Justin Langer’s first tour as head coach after the Newlands scandal. For a while, it seemed that Bazballer Ben Duckett and No.3 Will Jacks might lead the hosts to something similar in agreeable conditions for batting.

At 2-213 in the 33rd over, England were rumbling towards a tally that might even have been beyond Head’s reach. But it was his slow bowling, alongside that of Labuschagne and the irrepressible Adam Zampa that pulled things back for Australia. Their use became a necessity after Dwarshuis apparently strained a pectoral muscle while throwing off-balance in the field.

Together they shared eight wickets, using spin with intelligence, to put a clamp on England’s supply of boundaries, raising frustration among the home side’s batters and bringing about the loss of 8-102 in as many balls. England found themselves being bowled out with two deliveries remaining.

Jofra Archer was revved up for his first ODI spells in 18 months, but found the going harder after looking sharp in the early overs. Marsh fell to Matthew Potts for 10, and Head was nearly caught on when he’d made only six: Brydon Carse was in too far from the boundary and could not hold on to a one-hander.

That reprieve helped to kick Head into gear. Smith showed plenty of aggression in his first meeting with Archer since the 2019 Ashes, hooking one short ball for six albeit with more top edge than middle. His departure for 32 was followed by another useful contribution from Cameron Green, meaning that by the time Labuschagne came to the middle, the Australians were over halfway there.

What followed for England was the same sort of sinking feeling that overcame India in Ahmedabad last November. Once established at the crease, Head’s eye is supreme, and in Labuschagne he had a busy partner who has spent plenty of time batting in England this season.

Head’s hundred arrived, a milestone marked by popping his helmet on top of his bat handle in what he said was a team “in-joke”. He removed almost all doubt about the result by clubbing four boundaries off Carse in the 34th over, leaving 96 runs to get at a run a ball.

Head and Labuschagne would need just 60 of those. The remainder of the chase was gobbled up with plenty of style by two players in the prime of their international journeys, handing Australia their 13th win in succession. England, with new white-ball coach Brendon McCullum looking on from some time at home in New Zealand, have some catching up to do.

A few hours after the game, Zampa brandished something else from Scotland to celebrate a victorious 100th ODI for Australia: a well-earned nip of Woodrow’s single malt.

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