Refreshed Travis reflects on his Head-line act
Australia’s new opening combination may have stumbled out of the blocks, but Travis Head says he and Jake Fraser-McGurk won’t deviate from their method in Friday’s second T20 in Edinburgh.
While Head took full toll on Scotland’s inexperienced pace attack in the series opener, blazing the equal quickest fifty for Australia in T20 internationals, his South Australian teammate could only manage a third-ball duck in his debut as David Warner’s successor.
Head and captain Mitch Marsh proceeded to break the record for the highest Powerplay score in men’s T20Is following Fraser-McGurk’s dismissal as Australia completed their third largest victory in the format by balls remaining, passing the hosts’ 9-154 in just 9.4 overs.
The left-hander said post-match that was the blueprint for how he and Fraser-McGurk wanted to attack the first six overs in what Australia hopes will be their new long-term opening pair.
“We want to be aggressive; it wasn’t his day, and he would have been really keen to do well,” Head, who presented Fraser-McGurk with his SA cap before his Sheffield Shield debut for the state, told cricket.com.au.
Fraser-McGurk receives his SA baggy from Head last October // Getty
“But it’s a bloody hard skill to go out and (smash) it from ball one, which is what we’re asking him to do.
“You’re going to get the good with the bad … (and) you’re going to get that I think with both of us with the way the game is set up.
“As long as he keeps learning and keeps being positive, especially in this environment, I think you’ve seen some guys flourish in that environment with the wording in the way we want to go about it.
JFM makes Aussie history with cap No.110 in Scotland
That environment created by Marsh and head coach Andrew McDonald is one that’s also helped Australia’s new crop of fast bowlers prosper, with Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott and Riley Meredith all having an impact in the first T20 at The Grange.
Nathan Ellis, who missed the first T20 at The Grange in Edinburgh with left hamstring soreness, credited the relaxed and inclusive feel around the squad with getting the best out Australia’s attack despite missing key personnel in Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Ellis is Australia’s most capped fast bowler in Scotland with 17 international appearances and told the Unplayable Podcast ahead of the series that everyone was encouraged to be themselves whether they’d “played 100 games or zero games”.
“It speak volumes of the environment that ‘Ronnie’ (McDonald) and Mitch (Marsh) have put together that you’ve got fresh faces coming in and they’re calm and comfortable,” he said.
With Ellis to return at some point during the four-week UK tour, along with Hazlewood who will rejoin the squad ahead next week’s three-match T20 series against England and Starc for the five ODIs that follow.
Abbott has come to know how hard the Australian team is to get into across his 10-year international career and wasn’t prepared to let a chance slip after being called into the T20 leg of the tour following an injury to Spencer Johnson.
The 32-year-old bounced back quickly after conceding 12 from his opening over in Wednesday’s series opener against Scotland, finishing with a match-high three wickets.
“I thought we gelled pretty quickly considering we’ve got a pretty new-look attack and squad, but I think we can go up another gear (on Friday),” he said.
“I’d probably like a couple of balls back but good to take some wickets and finish off the innings well.
“Hopefully we can just keep bowling well and stay pretty set on the line up … it’s a bloody hard team to get into.
“We’ve got six T20 games pretty close together into a five-game ODI series in a short space of time, so we’ll just take it game-by-game, keep taking wickets and scoring runs and see what happens.”
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Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood (England games only), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith (Scotland games only), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
September 4: Australia won by seven wickets
September 6: Second T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, 11pm AEST
September 7: Third T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, 11pm AEST
September 11: First T20 v England, Rose Bowl, Southampton, 3.30am Sept 12 AEST
September 13: Second T20 v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 3.30am Sept 14 AEST
September 15: Third T20 v England, Old Trafford Manchester, 11.30pm AEST
Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
September 19: First ODI v England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 10pm AEST
September 21: Second ODI v England, Headingley, Leeds, 10pm AEST
September 24: Third ODI v England, Riverside, Chester-le-Street, 10pm AEST
September 27: Fourth ODI v England, Lord’s, London, 10pm AEST
September 29: Fifth ODI v England, County Ground, Bristol, 8pm AEST
