T20 World Cup 2024 – Travis Head – Anything can happen in the last seven or eight overs

The head was not going well; after the bowling restrictions, he had 24 off 20 balls – a strike rate of 120 – needing nine balls to get his first boundary. But before Saturday’s innings, his Powerplay strike rate in 2024 was 173.78.

It wasn’t until he reached his 45-ball fifty that Head really turned things around, taking Safyaan Sharif for three sixes in four wides and ensuring that Australia would get over the line.

“There will be times when it will be done in different ways,” Head told reporters. “I’m very happy that I was able to spend time there, do the job, put us in a position and help us win, and have that relationship with Stoin. It’s not always going to be smooth and it’s not going to be quick at the start. Sometimes it might be a little bit and we might have to do it differently I feel like I can do that again tonight I showed that.

Big increases have been seen twice in the T20 World Cup: against Oman they scored 84 in the last six overs, led by Stoinis, and against Scotland they made a difficult 89 from 37 balls that looked comfortable.

“You go through the gears and work where you can,” Head said when asked about his pursuit of Scotland. “It happened today with Stoin. He was playing well and I’ve been playing that role with him where I’ve been for a long time, knowing that hopefully my chance will come.

“But with that much power, anything can happen in the last seven, eight overs. We got to the stage where it was time to go, and we kept it dry, and we were able to accelerate from the back.”