Cricket greats Ricky Ponting and Ian Bishop are among those in awe of Travis Head after the aggressive opener hammered a 59-ball century in his return from a broken hand on Saturday night.
Head had not played a match since retiring hurt during the one-dayer between Australia and South Africa in Centurion in September, but he burst onto the World Cup scene with a brutal ton against New Zealand in Dharamsala.
Fellow opener David Warner continued his superb form with a knock of 81 runs from 65 balls as Head pumped 10 fours and seven sixes, the dangerous top-order duo setting Australia on its way to 388 all out.
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Pat Cummins’ men held on to win a thrilling encounter by five runs at the foothills of the Himalayas, securing a fourth win on the bounce and strengthening their hold on fourth place on the table.
“He simply didn’t miss the middle of the bat,” Ponting said in commentary.
“He just went from ball one, set the tone.
“He let New Zealand know that Australia were here to play.”
Among the highlights of Head’s innings was a 90-metre six down the ground in the third over, on his World Cup debut no less.
“Remarkable that Travis Head hasn’t played a match for nearly six weeks because of injury, and walks into the World Cup and gets a century off 59 deliveries,” Bishop wrote on X.
Head was selected in Australia’s World Cup squad despite having no chance of beginning the tournament, having suffered a fractured hand caused by a searing Gerald Coetzee delivery.
“Full credit to the Australian selectors,” said former Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe on Fox Cricket.
“It’s a stunning performance … He bullied them … It was an outstanding display.”
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Head’s return saw Mitchell Marsh shift from his role as opener to first drop.
Head said his batting had “come back pretty good” and admitted to having “full confidence” with the blade.
“I was very, very close for the last game [against the Netherlands],” the South Australian added.
“I probably needed another fielding session. I probably [would have] gone in underdone and there was probably going to be risk associated with playing the last game because I didn’t know how it was going to react in the field.
“Got to the stage where he had to pull the trigger at some point, so why not it be tonight? … Probably 50-50 last game, 75 per cent this game and 100 for [the] England [match next Saturday night] … We got there in the end. Nice it’s healed. Did the right things and was able to get back.
“Funnily enough, once we got to the toss and we were batting the adrenaline pumped up and it felt pretty good.”
When asked if he needed to be convinced to open, he said “No, definitely not”.
“I think that’s been a spot I’ve waited for obviously with Finchy [Aaron Finch] playing for such a long period and their partnership being so good,” he said.
“The limited chances I had I was able to take.
“I waited a couple of years for that spot to open up, but it’s never guaranteed and you’ve got to perform and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to string a few performances together to hopefully make that a spot.”
The Australians have had an emphatic turnaround since being thumped by India and South Africa in their first two matches of the tournament, piling up wins against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Netherlands and the Kiwis.
“The Aussies are starting to look ominous,” wrote former England captain Michael Vaughan on X.
“No Travis Head is back they are the team who could beat the hosts [India] … I don’t think they will but they could.”
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Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.