Dasher Head leading a batting shift in Test cricket

Australia's new master blaster Travis Head is the embodiment of a shift in the game that has seen the No.5 position become the most influential in Test cricket.

Head was again the decisive figure across a day's action in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, dominating day two of the third Test in Brisbane with a stunning 152 from 160 balls that put Australia in a commanding position. 

Statistics can reveal that since his recall to Australia's Test side in December 2021, the dashing South Australian has been a key part of a worldwide movement in which third drop is scoring at a better average and strike-rate – and more frequently posting hundreds – than any other position in the order. 

As top-order batters across the globe fall victim to more pronounced seams, greener wickets, wobble-seam fast bowlers and perhaps their own T20-influenced technical tweaks, it seems the outcomes of Test matches are increasingly being influenced by the runs coming from number fives.

The overall batting average from the position since December 2021 takes top spot in the order with 40, narrowly ahead of No.4 (37), while an overall strike-rate of 60 also comes in as the highest ahead of No.6 (57).

The 48 hundreds scored from No.5 are also the most in any position (the two opening positions combined are still only marginally ahead, with 54), and the 21.7% of all hundreds they account for in the top seven is again the highest.

In the decade prior (dating back to December 2011), it is a different story; the No.5 spot did not rank first in any of those measures (see table below).

Head's ascension into the ICC's top five Test batters in the world – and Australia's top-ranked batter – has come about in almost direct contrast to the world champions' top-order struggles.

Yet, as Steve Smith points out, often it has been the hard work of the top four that has put the left-hander in a position to flourish; only once among the seven Test hundreds he has scored since his December 2021 recall did he come to the middle inside 10 overs (after 33 overs on average for those innings).

"I think a lot of credit has to go to the top three," Smith said of his and Head's centuries at the Gabba today. "I think they faced 50 odd balls each, which I think is a pretty good effort on that wicket out there.

"If we can get to 30-odd overs when Travis comes in, it makes a big difference to the team. I think the seam probably starts to settle down around 30-40 overs, and the ball stays quite hard – this new (Kookaburra) ball that they changed in 2020-21 – so you see guys batting at five, six, seven that are able to hit the ball hard and get good value for their shots – that's the kind of way we've been shaping up."

Head, of course, has been well supported in this No.5 revolution. The remarkable entrance to Test cricket of England's Harry Brook has in fact been the single biggest driving force, while India's Rishabh Pant is cut from the same cloth. 

All three boast stunning numbers from No.5 in that three-year window (Head: 1,946 runs at an average of 48 and a strike-rate of 82.56; Brook 2,221 runs, ave 65.32, SR 88.13; and Pant 967 runs, ave 53.72, SR 90.71). 

And while Indian fans will hope Pant can repeat his heroics from the Gabba Test of January 2021 this time around, a little peek 12 months into the future reveals the mouth-watering prospect of a Head v Brook showdown headlining the Ashes. 

The 25-year-old English sensation has to date played just nine internationals in Australia, all of them T20s, for a return of 69 runs at 9.85. Working as a batting consultant with England through that period in late 2022 (before and during the T20 World Cup) was Mike Hussey. 

"He's obviously an incredible talent," Hussey told cricket.com.au. "I think he battled a little bit in that tournament – the extra bounce is something that he's still got to try and nut out, but I think he's good enough to be able to figure that out, and certainly have a big impact on a series over here in Australia."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal