AGENCY
Sydney, Jan 28
Australia’s Travis Head is all set to return to the opener’s position as they take on Sri Lanka in the opening match of the two-match Test series starting Wednesday (Jan 29). Head, who played a pivotal role in Australia’s 3-1 series win over India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy recently, will open alongside Usman Khawaja. The decision comes on the eve of the opening contest in the two-match series which will start on Wednesday at the Galle International Stadium in Galle. “Trav will go to the top, outside of that I think it will be pretty stable,” Australia skipper Steve Smith told reporters prior to Australia’s final pre-Test training session.”The selectors liked what they saw in India when he (Head) had that opportunity.”He got after the new ball, scored quickly and put the pressure on them straight away so I guess similar thinking here.”Head’s promotion up the order could mean Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney might miss the contest against Sri Lanka. The former was impressive in his two outings against India while McSweeney failed to make the most of his opportunities in the same series.
One of the reasons for Head’s promotion up the order could be influenced by World Test Championship (WTC) final preparations. The Aussie batter has excelled in his role as opener in the ODI and T20I format and could replicate the same in Test format. His track record in ICC finals has been impressive having scored 163 in the 2023 WTC final followed by a 137-run knock in the ODI World Cup final.
Despite having a tradition of announcing their Playing XI on the eve of the Test matches, Cricket Australia refrained from the announcement this time.
The team led by Steve Smith will announce the Playing XI at the spin of the coin on Wednesday.
