Having twice fallen into the same third-man trap, Travis Head knows he needs to put a higher price on his wicket
Head vows to learn from Perth exits
Australia batter Travis Head says he must learn from his "poor" dismissal in the second innings in Perth as he eyes big runs in the Boxing Day Test.
Head is Australia's leading run-scorer midway through the Domain Test series with 163 runs at 40.75, but admits he was disappointed with his twin dismissals in the second Test.
Playing in just his fourth Test, Head played positively in compiling 58 on day one before edging a wide, full delivery from India paceman Ishant Sharma that flew to Mohammed Shami at third man.
In the second innings, the 24-year-old fell into the same trap as he slashed a rank half-tracker from Shami to Ishant at third man to leave the Australians in a precarious position at 4-120 with a tender lead of 163.
Fortunately for Head, the hosts scrapped their way to a lead of 286, a lead that proved too much for Virat Kohli’s charges as Australia won the match by 146 uns to level the series 1-1.
Head was dejected as he left the field on Sunday and since has spoken with Australia's coaching staff about how he wants to play moving forward in the summer.
"It was just one of them things," Head said on cricket.com.au Facebook Live describing his first-innings dismissal.
"It was unfortunate, but it wasn't a great shot. I was very disappointed but it was positive.
"The other day (second-innings) wasn't very good. I've got to learn from that. I can't be giving up my wicket like that.
"It was pretty poor. I was really pleased with the way I batted in Adelaide (batting for five-and-a-half hours for scores 72 and 14) and the way I went about it and the process, did the basics for a long period of time and stayed a long time out there.
"I wasn't able to do that in the second innings this game.
"I know I'm going to Melbourne on a good batting wicket so hopefully I can do that process for a long time and bat for a long period of time again."
Despite the disappointment, Head is happy with his form this summer.
He made his Test debut in October against Pakistan in the UAE and posted 72 in his maiden Test that proved vital in Australia hanging on for an epic draw in Dubai.
While he hasn't cemented his position in Australia's middle order, the left-hander is looking forward to the Boxing Day Test that has favoured batting in recent seasons.
"I feel like my batting is going well at the minute," he said.
"My processes are really good but (must) make sure we get the job done today and go on to Melbourne and make sure I continue to do the same things.
"(It's a) nice wicket in Melbourne so back to how I batted in Adelaide."
Domain Test Series v India
Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval, India won by 31 runs
Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium
Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG
Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG
Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain
India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar