Head and Weatherald are here to stay

Travis Head and Jake Weatherald racked up a swift 77-run stand at the ‘Gabba. They’ll be Australia’s openers for the rest of the Ashes. Case closed.

Thommo. Robbo. Dobbo. Wazza. Mozzie. Sprinkler. These are the names on the backs of T-shirts piling into the Gabba. Johnno. Jacko. Gazza. The beautiful Shazza. Macca. Phil Tufnell is finishing off his cigarette near Gate 6. We’re good to go for the five-act Shakespearean production called the second Ashes Test. Play.

Travis Head takes top billing. To be a permanent opener or not a permanent opener, that is the question. He’s become enough of a rock star since his Perth heroics that it’s a wonder he doesn’t walk a red carpet to the pitch.

England has been dismissed for 334. A folkloric score, of course, Don Bradman once matched on his own. Highlights of England’s noble stay? Mitch Starc’s bowling. Joe Root’s gorgeous batting. The glovework of Adam Carey. He’s brilliant.

It’s been 24 hours since Head did a lovely interview with Mark Howard on Fox Cricket in which he’s been told the people want him to open. “They’ll get what they want, if that’s what they want,” Head has replied. “Look, I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be hard work. The moment has come. It’s an important role, setting it up for the guys behind me, and I prepare for anything and everything. The first 30 balls are important. Then you go on a flow and see where you get to.”

Jake Weatherald is dismissed by Jofra Archer. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s been scared to bat on opening night. Efforts to avoid facing half an hour of pink-ball heat have been comically blatant. Stalling for time, Marnus Labuschagne has been dispatched from first slip to long off, and back again two balls later, and then Head, at long off, has called for the helmet from the dugout, then running to short leg, for one delivery, before returning to long off and waiting for Labuschagne to navigate his way back to first slip. It’s played into England’s hands. Amid the faffing around, Root and Jofra Archer have added a crucial, six-laden, potentially match-defining 70 runs for the final wicket.

Just a quick head’s up. Head’s up. Let’s study his first 30 balls. If he survives those, he may last another 300. Archer is kind enough to welcome him with a couple of useless deliveries wide of leg stump at a gentle 135km/h. Two down, 28 to go. Head plays out a maiden. What the hell is this? Boycottball? Get on with it!

He leaves a ball outside off stump with the flourish of a French swordsman. Blocks a few. He’s watchable because you never quite know when he’ll launch an uppercut into the top tier of the grandstand.

The Barmy Army has a banner promoting a great charity called Beautiful Crazy. Check it out. The name seems additionally fitting because Head is at the crease. Few Test representatives have ever batted as beautifully crazy as this. In Perth, he made 123 from 83 balls. Now he’s none from 12.

Jake Weatherald was dominant on the back foot during his innings. Picture: Getty Images

Finally, he whips Archer for two off his pads and he’s off the mark when 15 balls deep. England can learn a lot from Head. He tiptoes before tonking. Of course, you need the God-given talent to alter your style according to everchanging situations and conditions in five-act Shakespearean productions, but Head is a reminder that the greatest athletes are multidimensional. They’re everything, everywhere, all at once.

On Head’s 26th ball, when he’s clobbered all of three runs, England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith drops a nick from Archer that any wicketkeeper worth his salt will take. Two hands to the ball, to the inside of first slip, Smith’s just gotta take it. Smith’s error is compounded by the contrast with Carey’s sheer excellence. Right on cue, on his 30th delivery, Head launches consecutive boundaries, a four and six, to signal that his eye is in.

Has Head told Howard his exact game plan? Get to 30 balls then start swinging for the fences? Smith may never live down his drop. He gets a rousing Bronx cheer every time he cleanly catches the ball. A regulation ball outside off stump. Hooray! A throw from the outfield. Hooray! It’s sickening to be ’keeping when you’ve given a life to a dangerous player. Every subsequent run is a dagger through your heart. And all you hear from the stands is, hooray!

Four runs from 29 balls, Head rockets to 20 from 33. He’s gone four, six, three, three. A flurry of boundaries. His luck runs out when he skies Brydon Carse to Gus Atkinson at mid-wicket. He’s made 33 from 43 balls in a 77-run opening stand with Weatherald. They’ve skipped along at nearly six runs an over. As a spectacle, and platform, and long-term proposition, the Head-Weatherald union has plenty going for it. Henceforth, the Test career of Usman Khawaja is over.

“That’s how it crumbles sometimes,” Head says. “That’s the game. You prepare the best you can. Physically, mentally, you get ready to go. You try your hardest to have the most consistency you can. But the game doesn’t guarantee you runs.”

Weatherald’s sparkling contribution – 72 from 78 balls before Archer traps him LBW with a sandshoe crusher – is wonderful timing for the tenacious, pugnacious mollydooker, because in the background, slammin’ Sammy Konstas has racked up a ton for NSW. Konstas’s 116 for the Blues isn’t too little, just a few months too late. Weatherald is now unsackable.

How endearing and determined is Weatherald when whispering “ball, ball, ball”. as the bowler approaches? How unique and combative is the crouched boxers’ stance? How authoritative are his cover drives when the ball is in his slot? How thrilling are the cuts for six over slips?

Head and Weatherald have chemistry as long-term mates. They’ve thwarted England like brothers in arms. They’ve given the people, the Gazzas and Shazzas, and Australia’s selectors, what they want. An opening partnership that will stick.