Eng vs Aus 1st ODI – Travis Head, Test opener? ‘Keep the conversation going: make it interesting’

Usman Khawaja, the sole incumbent, has made his point of view clear. “I feel like Travis Head might be a better fit,” he said last week. “Obviously you’ve had a lot of success opening the batting in one-day cricket… Confidence comes through. When you see the ball well, you score a lot of runs and not much goes through your head, it’s a good place to be.”

Perhaps that’s underestimating the differences between the formats. Head was facing two white balls on Thursday night rather than one red one, in an area with almost the same boundaries as Australia’s home. There are no limits going into a Test match, and India’s attack is a clear improvement on what England did in Nottingham.

Head faced two balls early in his innings from Jofra Archer that could not have been played on the boundary, hung around the wicket and adjusted away on the seam to hit the bat. He was also brought down to the 6, with Brydon Carse 20 yards from the boundary going back and failing to hold on to an acrobatic attempt as it bounced back on his head.

But Head has the uncanny ability to get the last ball out of his mind, as he showed with a series of hit-and-runs against Jasprit Bumrah in Ahmedabad that still plays in the minds of Indian fans. At Trent Bridge, he cruised to a run-a-ball half-century and gradually accelerated to the finish line, reaching his hundred off 92 balls and then 123 off 150 balls.

“It was hard at first,” Head said. “Jof’s style is very good for me, so I’ve experienced it a few times. I even thought in the T20s, the few overs I played against him at Southampton, he’s a very good bowler. You have to take the good out of it. The bad… there wasn’t much in those first few overs, so I just tried to reverse my approach and tried to stay there.”

England have found Head incredibly difficult to cover over the last 10 days: his 90 runs in the T20I series came from just 37 balls, and he was ruthless in any range. It’s his unorthodox approach that presents a challenge: “Sometimes ‘width’ is a middle ground for him, because he creates that space so well,” explains Marcus Trescothick, the England coach.

Head went through the stages of looking vulnerable with the short ball, and England didn’t use a bouncer against him on Thursday night: “We’re trying hard,” Trescothick said. “Eventually, the worm will turn.” Had he opened in Tests, there is no doubt that India would have hit him with the short balls at some point – especially without the boundaries to worry about.

The biggest obstacle would be the Chief himself. He has previously distanced himself from this role, suggesting that he should be considered to open only in this continent – which he did five times in India at the beginning of last year – and became angry when asked about the possibility of changing the order. the result of Australia’s victory in Nottingham.

“Yes,” he was asked if he was aware of the allegations found in the media at home. “Keep the conversation going: it makes it interesting.” After spending three hours on the offensive, he played dead when asked if his situation had changed as he appeared to be oblivious: “I’m not going to get caught up in that. I’m just going to let that go. .”

The head did not give anything, on or off the field. But as Australia look to find an opening partner for Head in white-ball cricket who can replicate the output of David Warner, there is a growing feeling that Head himself can have the same impact as Warner across all formats. Whatever decision the Australian selectors make, it could define the summer at home.