When Travis Head arrived at the Oval crease, his side were in a precarious position – now they will enter day two well in charge
est it out quietly to yourself, because it is not yet a fully formed idea. One to be rolled over the tongue to see how it goes before it is released. But maybe, at least at this moment, Travis Head is Australia’s most important Test batter.final, when he took Australia from precarity to primacy against India at the Oval. It was when that century was still just a threat, on 28 from 18 balls shortly after Marnus Labuschagne had been clean bowled by Mohammed Shami.
Australia’s batting order before Head is stacked with credentials. David Warner did his job as an opener, surviving a fierce early spell from Shami and Mohammed Siraj as the ball swerved under clouds, getting through to near lunch and giving those who followed a better chance. Usman Khawaja did his job in a way, given that openers have to accept the greater likelihood of an early edge.
All are fine operators, and yet none creates that particular feeling that a Travis Head innings can do: a suggestion that anything and everything is possible in the session to come. At 76 for three after a couple of hours of graft having been sent in to bat, Australia could easily have been heading for 120 for six and towards first-innings oblivion. Instead, half an hour of Head changed everything.
It is the lack of hesitation in his game that engenders hesitation in his opponents. Straight after arriving, the left-hander was reaching out to the wicket-taking Shami and steering him away for four. His punches through cover and flicks through midwicket followed. Smith had been there longer but added eight of the next 37 runs. That modest change to the scoreboard should not have changed the game, but suddenly India were shuffling the field, looking worried.
For two years, Head’s batting has done this trick consistently. The ability to play in a way that others in his team cannot. The willingness to take on the game no matter the circumstance. The ability to change the timbre of a contest. And such a level of confidence in his method that it doesn’t feel like recklessness, more an expression of joie de vivre.
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