Aus vs SA - 2nd Test - The Head scratcher: where do Australia get the best out of Travis Head?

Travis Head‘s output in the Durban Test continued what has been a career of two distinct portions: home vs away. In Australia, he averages a formidable 51.86, with 11 of his 12 hundreds; while overseas, that figure is a far less imposing 31.62.

Head had the leanest return of any of Australia’s top order at Kingsmead, with scores of 9 and 11. He tickled down the leg side in the first innings, and then got a leading edge to mid-on in the second.

It’s not unusual for a player to prefer the comfort of home – for example, Michael Hussey had the same difference in his averages as Head, while Michael Clarke (22.62) and David Warner (25.35) were greater – and it isn’t to suggest that Head will not have a significant impact on the series against South Africa over the next two Tests. However, Head also has the second-lowest overseas average of any Australia top six batter with at least 50 innings.

Closing the gap between his home and away performances is one challenge for Head. But there are also numbers to suggest that if the flexible batting order that Australia are talking up becomes a reality, he could be a candidate for an in-game move.

Technically, he has already done it, although the two instances where he changed positions during a game from the middle to opener came when forced due to injury. He filled in for a concussed David Warner in Delhi in 2023, before retaining the job for the rest of the series. Then there was the Ashes promotion in the Perth run chase last season, which led to what has since been a permanent role.

Head’s Test career as an opener remains in its infancy, with three hundreds against England showing what is possible. Overall, he has done it for 13 matches, and his current run in the established role since the elevation in the Ashes stands at just eight games.

However, there are some interesting splits emerging in Head’s numbers. As opener, across the four innings of a Test from first to fourth, his averages read: 23.66, 49.60, 62.83 and 60.75. The low first innings of the match figure would, broadly, correlate to when batting is often trickiest on the opening day, particularly in South Africa, England, New Zealand and England, where four of his six first innings have been played. To consolidate Head’s figures to both first and second innings, they read: 35.45 and 62.

Compare that to No. 5, where there is a more substantial amount of data. Across the four innings, the averages are: 54.69, 36.04, 27.43 and 40.50. That gives first and second-innings figures of 46.36 and 31.00, respectively.

Head is, quite rightly, proud of his early days as an opener. He was magnificent in the Ashes. Since then, there has been a leaner run with the three drag-on dismissals against Bangladesh followed by the twin low scores in Durban. But for him, where he bats doesn’t change anything.

“I’ve always been process-based rather than outcome-based,” Head told Cricinfo prior to the series. “So in the short time I’ve done it [open], I feel like I give myself a chance every innings – whether it be face balls, getting through spells – and that’s no different at No. 5. So I’ll always be outcome-based. Sometimes scores might not reflect how I’m feeling or batting. It’s a bloody hard game.

“It can be as easy as ten balls, 20 balls, whatever the time I need, as long as the process is good. Whatever the outcome says at some point, you get the results that you want. They sometimes take longer than other times, but otherwise I’m around the process. So just continue that.”

Head also backs himself to work through whatever scenarios he’s faced with at the crease. “I feel like I’m a good problem solver,” he said. “I feel like someone that changing conditions and change of emotions and all those doesn’t really impact me once I get out to the middle.”

Australia are not reinventing the wheel with the notion of a flexible batting line-up, although it has been discussed as conditions-based if those change during a game rather than, for example, just setting up a declaration.

“I couldn’t put a timeline on how close we are, but I think if the conditions tell us that it’s time to change the batting order, we’ll make that change like everyone’s spoken about,” assistant coach Matthew Wade said. “We’re doing whatever we can do to win the Test match at that time. So if first innings change dramatically to second innings and there was a better option that we thought might work, then we’d certainly take that on.

“Andrew McDonald and [chair of selectors George Bailey] put a lot of work into it. It’s not something that would just get dropped on a player. They’ll know leading into a Test match what it looks like, and in the days leading in to lock down their game plan. There’s plenty of planning around it. If it ever happened in between innings, it would be the same thing. The communication is always something that this group is really strong [at].”

In reality, Australia’s batting order is probably not as fluid as is perhaps being made out, with Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith unlikely to move from No. 3 and 4, respectively. But more broadly, Wade believes there is changing attitude among batters.

“I think it’s traditionally openers open and then you go from there, but we’ve seen over the last little bit that we’ve been able to adapt really quickly,” he said. “More importantly, the players take it on so easily, and credit to them.

“Conditions have changed so much over the last ten years, especially at the domestic level. We’re finding guys are going up and attacking more. Obviously, the way England attacked Test cricket was completely different to maybe what we’ve seen before. I think it’s just the evolution of the game.

“Maybe conditions have dictated guys to go up into that role and maybe attack a little bit more, which means guys shuffle around. Where it lands in the next four or five years, no one knows.”

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at Cricinfo

Source link