“I don’t want to cause any headlines”: Travis Head happy to play the middle-man when it comes to Australia’s Test batting line-up

Travis Head has taken himself out of the speculation around Australia’s Test batting order against India with the men’s national coach Andrew McDonald reaffirming that he is in no rush to make a decision on who bats where. BEN HORNE reports.

The plot thickens around Australia’s opening batsman conundrum, with Travis Head revealing he won’t be moving up the order against India this summer.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has all but confirmed Usman Khawaja’s recent assertion that selectors will at least discuss whether or not Steve Smith should continue on as an opener or move back to the position where he has dominated world cricket for the past decade.

Head’s name has been floated by commentators as a potential option to step into the void, given he is a left-handed game-breaker in the mould of David Warner who opens in white ball cricket and opened the batting on last year’s Test tour of the subcontinent.

However, Head has quickly ruled himself out of the ongoing speculation and declared his place in the middle-order is set in stone for the home summer challenge against the might of India.

Travis Head during an Australian team training session last summer. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

“I’ll do anything the team needs but that’s been pretty much determined already that I’ll be in the middle-order,” Head told this masthead in his promotion of the new Prime Video The Test documentary to premiere this Friday.

“I don’t want to cause any headlines, so I let the boys do their thing. I know it’s changed a few times and different guys have put their hands up.

“I have a sense it’s an opening batter’s job, they grind away, they do the work, it’s hard for a No. 4 or 5 to then start shoving his hand up to go up there.

“From my side of things, I’m not going to throw another name in the hat.

“If it came up and I had to do it, I would do it – any batter would say that for the Australian cricket team.

“But I don’t think you’ll see me in Australia opening the batting.”

Heads were turned earlier this week when Marnus Labuschagne posted a hundred after being promoted to open the batting for his English county side, Glamorgan.

Labuschagne during his century for Glamorgan earlier this week. Picture: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Another option for selectors to consider if they want to shuffle the deck chairs of the current top six to find the right combination, might be to swap Labuschagne and Smith.

Labuschagne has opened before, while Smith’s most successful ever position in Test cricket is at No.3.

McDonald reiterated on Gerard Whateley’s show on SEN in response to the speculation around Labuschagne that he won’t be making a decision on the batting order to face India until he has to make a decision.

“I’ve picked up a few people trying to draw the connection (with Labuschagne) to what may happen next summer. That’s still a long way away still,” McDonald said on SEN.

“I think one of the great traits of Marnus is he would do whatever the team needs and clearly he’s come into Glamorgan later in the season and they’ve got an established 3, 4 and 5 and he’s needed to open for what the team requires.

“Most of our players, albeit they’re not going to put their hand up to open, but they would do whatever the team needs and I think that’s reflected in what Marnus is doing for Glamorgan.

“We haven’t really thought about it (who will open). I was clear at the end of New Zealand, we’ve got time to work our way into the Test summer.

“We’ll just decide on that as we get closer.

“Will we revisit it? There’s no doubt we’ll have conversations around many things we’re going to do leading into the summer and we’ll structure up the best way to defeat India when they come out here, which is going to be a tough challenge.”

Andrew McDonald will wait to make a final decision. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Despite being knocked over by countryman Mitchell Starc in Tuesday night’s IPL qualifying final, Head is the third highest run-scorer in the current IPL and is in blazing form heading into next month’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, which will be broadcast on Prime Video.

Head is confident he and Australia will be able to pick up from where they left off winning last year’s 50-over World Cup.

“I think the energy that the group will bring obviously being a World Cup is exciting and then let’s see where we get to,” Head said.

“Hopefully by the business end of the tournament like we saw in the one day World Cup, we (turn over) our gears and we’re in a good space and we can have a crack at it.

“I think there’s a number of teams who look stacked. It’s going to be tough but hopefully we’re the team that’s stacked and firing at the right time.”

Originally published as “I don’t want to cause any headlines”: Travis Head happy to play the middle-man when it comes to Australia’s Test batting line-up