In his first World Cup game, returning from a fractured wrist, Travis Head showed exactly why Australia had been happy to wait for him
No runs in the nets? No worries for blistering Head
Travis Head might have been the only Australian who could have come in as cold as he did on Saturday to such a high-stakes World Cup clash.
Michael di Venuto smiled when asked if Head, who freely admits his net sessions are rarely easy on the eye, had looked even worse in his handful of training hits leading into the New Zealand game. "Pretty normal," was the batting coach's description.
The opener was scratchy in a 20-minute, match-eve tune-up on a tired Dharamsala practice wicket. He had not looked a great deal better in a longer session earlier in the week in Delhi in his bid to prove the hand he had broken six weeks earlier could come good for the Netherlands match.
Tellingly, Head looked most comfortable when he had a range hitting session in the middle of the Kotla ground under lights in the Indian capital amid good-natured heckling from teammates watching on from the boundary.
But it was chalk and cheese to what went down against the Kiwis.
The left-hander was at immediate ease against a vaunted Black Caps attack when thrown into the fire for his first ever World Cup match. Two early Matt Henry no-ball free hits were bashed for six, and he was away.
Did his ability to find his feet again so quickly surprise him? "After the way I batted over the last little week, probably a little bit," said Head after his 59-ball ton earnt him player-of-the-match honours in Australia's tight win.
"The free hits definitely helped. After only a couple of hits in the nets at full tilt – and the training wickets are a lot different than in the middle – it was nice to get a few out of the middle at the start.
"Then I just loved getting into the contest today and felt like that was going to always happen once I got into the game."
Di Venuto knew Head's scratchy practice hit outs had been nothing to worry about.
"You don't score runs in the nets, do you?" he said. "There's no adrenaline in the nets, there's no competition. So for people like Trav, he gets his thrills out in the middle.
"We know he's one that doesn't need a lot of work before games. It's fairly natural the way he goes about it. It's just a matter of making sure his hand was right. He was really close last game."
After getting off to a flyer, Head continued to push the pace as he and opening partner David Warner put together the best Powerplay of the tournament in blasting 118 from the first 10 overs. They finished with 13 sixes between them.
Head romped to the fastest ODI hundred by an Australian opener, beating Matthew Hayden's 66-ball effort against South Africa at the 2007 World Cup.
"I loved that, especially from Trav, who has been away," captain Pat Cummins told the host broadcaster. "That is how we want to play – take the game on and they led the way."
Australia's decision to essentially go through the first half of the tournament with only 14 players was vindicated.
Head conceded he had been nervous to see how he got through the match given the initial recovery trajectory set an expectation that his hand would only be around 75 per cent of capacity for the NZ clash.
"There was going to be risk associated with playing last game (against the Netherlands) because we didn't know how it was going to react in the field," he said.
"Then we got to a stage where we've got to pull the trigger at some point, so why not it be tonight?
"There was obviously (nerves as) part of the mindset I guess leading into the game. There's been little aches and pains throughout.
"Funnily enough, once we got the toss come and we were batting, the adrenaline pumped up and it felt pretty good."
Head expects he will be at 100 per cent capacity for next Saturday's England match. It is an ominous sign.
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: Beat Sri Lanka by five wickets
October 20: Beat Pakistan by 62 runs
October 25: Beat Netherlands by 309 runs
October 28: Beat New Zealand by five runs
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points