"Leave Travis where he is" - David Boon on whether Travis Head could replace David Warner as opener for Lord's Test

David Boon has cast his vote against Travis Head replacing David Warner as Australia's opener for the second Ashes Test.

Pat Cummins and Co. head into the second game at Lord's in London with a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. While Head aggregated 66 runs, including a half-century in the first innings, while batting in the middle order in the first Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham, Warner scored 45 runs across his two innings.

During an interaction on the podcast 'SEN Tassie', Boon was asked whether Head could replace Warner as an opener in the Lord's Test to fight fire with fire. The former Australian opener opined that the visitors should not go down that route:

"There are a lot of different ways that you can look at it. If I was looking at it, I think Warner is still going to open. He looked better in the second innings, more in control and Travis Head has been going so well where he is batting. I would find it difficult to change that."

Boon added:

"I believe if you are going to make a change, make it somewhere else and leave Travis where he is. He has now had at least 18 months of exceptional cricket under his belt, with a number of hundreds and playing aggressively as well. So I personally wouldn't change that."

Head has amassed 1455 runs at an excellent average of 53.88 in the 19 Tests he has played since the beginning of 2021. Apart from his successful run in the middle order, his discomfort against the short ball might discourage Australia from looking to bat him at the top of the order.

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"I think that's a good three, four and five" - David Boon on Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head

Travis Head scored a match-winning century in the WTC final against India.

David Boon concluded by observing that Usman Khawaja as an opener, along with Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head in the middle order, give Australia a formidable batting lineup:

"The Australian team, as many have done before, are batting around Usman Khawaja. He hasn't changed the way he plays and neither should he. Labuschagne is not going to miss out too many times, Smith is obviously quality and then they have Travis following them. I think that's a good three, four and five."

Khawaja scored a century and a half-century in his two innings of the Edgbaston Test and was duly chosen as the Player of the Match. Labuschagne and Smith, who failed to play substantial knocks in the first Test, were the top two batters in the ICC Test rankings heading into that game.