Border encourages Head to emulate Hayden for India tour

Test great Allan Border has urged Travis Head to borrow from the Matthew Hayden playbook and develop a game plan suited to subcontinental conditions, after the middle-order dasher experienced a couple of lean series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Head enjoyed a breakthrough home Ashes last summer, scoring two hundreds and being named player of the series, but two campaigns in Asia this year yielded 91 runs at 15.17 with a highest score of 26.

With Australia desperate to end their Test drought in India (where they have won just one match since 2004) next year, Border believes Head must revise his strategy in spinning conditions if he is going to survive and then thrive in Baggy Green.

The former skipper is well placed to judge; through his decorated career, he scored 1,799 Test runs in Asia at 54.51, while his six centuries there (scored in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) are unmatched by his compatriots.

"He's got to sit down and work out a method better than it's going at the moment, that's for sure," said Border, who was speaking at Queensland Cricket's 'Buy a Picket' campaign at the newly-redeveloped Allan Border Field.

"I've talked to him a little bit about batting on spinning wickets.

"He's got to learn how to sweep, and sweep well. And he's got to use his feet – people don't seem to be prepared to go down the track, and defend even.

"There's just a few subtle little things. He's a very good player against anything other than the turning ball. That's the chink he's got to work on, but it's (play the) sweep shot, use your feet, get on the front foot, and when you're trying to defend, use nice soft hands.

"We're going to go to the subcontinent a lot so if he wants to be in the frame, he needs to learn how to play the turning ball."

Border played in Hayden's first-class debut 30 summers ago at the Gabba and, as both teammate and commentator, watched the legendary left-hander's game evolve over the following decade.

The former opener experienced a record-breaking campaign in India in 2001, scoring 549 runs at 109.80 and utilising the sweep shot to great effect. By the end of his career, he had piled on 1,663 runs at 50.39 in Asia – an aggregate bettered by only Border and Ponting (1,889 at 41.97) among Australians. 

"Hayden's a great example," Border added. "You're talking about a kid who batted on the Gabba five games a year, then the WACA … Sydney (the SCG pitch) turned, that was the only place that really (gave you a chance to bat) against a spin bowler.

"He just developed a fantastic sweep shot, and it's a hard shot, because if you do get it wrong and you get hit on the pad, with the DRS now … these days you get given out playing sweeps, whereas going back in time you didn't necessarily get given out."

Head did perform admirably to make 70no on a turning pitch in Colombo in the third ODI against Sri Lanka, and then conceded he had erred in his plans when he was out for six on a minefield in Galle in the first Test.

"I just made a mistake – trying to work the ball to midwicket on a full ball that's probably outside the line (of leg stump)," he said. "It's amazing all the work you can do in the nets and feel good and prepare the best way and talk about it, but it's about going out and emulating that.

"So double down on those plans, watch(ing) how (his teammates) went about it, they did it really well for the Test.

"I thought in general the way I eyed the ball up, the way my hands were working was good. It's just you make one mistake, and you sit in the sheds.

"I've played well on spinning pitches in Australia. These are different – I've never played on a wicket like that – so another one to take into consideration … It's nice to know they might not get harder than that."

In the second innings of the second Test, the left-hander began experimenting with the sweep shot Border suggests he implements full time in those conditions, while Australia head coach Andrew McDonald's post-tour critique contextualised his No.5's struggles.

"He's here for the first time," McDonald said. "He's been exposed to conditions that are very foreign. We saw him add the sweep shot in during (the final) innings.

"He's been working incredibly hard on his game. Sometimes, you make one small error and you are not there to actually see if your method works or not.

"There's definitely been a shift in his game in terms of how he wants to play in these conditions. So we are optimistic that across the journey, if given more time, that can no doubt work."