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Veteran Australian opener David Warner praised fellow batter Travis Head after the latter struck a rapid half-century on Day 1 of the second Ashes 2023 Test against England at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Warner (66 off 88), Steve Smith (85* off 149) and Head (77 off 73) hit fifties as Australia dominated the opening day of the Lord’s Test. It seemed early advantage for England after Ben Stokes won the toss and invited the Aussies to bat under overcast conditions. However, the visitors came up with a commendable batting effort to finish the day in ascendancy at 339/5.
Speaking at the end of the opening day’s play at Lord’s, Warner was all praise for the aggressive Head. Sharing his views on the significance of the middle-order batter's presence in the playing XI, the seasoned opener said:
"Trav is Trav. It's the way he plays. It's exciting. He's going to come out there and to be honest, we're lucky he's in our team because he can take it away from you in that half an hour patch. Striking at over 100 on that wicket is exceptional - and that's what you get from Trav."
Praising the 29-year-old, he opined that England bowled well to him, but Head found a way to counter them.
Warner elaborated:
"He applies the pressure back onto the bowling unit. I felt they bowled pretty good to him first up. The ball was moving a little bit and then he countered. He just manages to hit them through backward point or get on top of the ball that's rising off the wicket. He just finds a way."
Head and Smith featured in a 118-run stand for the fourth wicket to lift Australia after Marnus Labuschagne’s exit. The left-hander looked set for a hundred when he was stumped off Joe Root’s bowling, attempting a premeditated slog. His stroke-filled innings featured 14 hits to the fence.
Root also dismissed Cameron Green (0) in the same over as England launched a mini-fightback before stumps.
Travis Head’s rich vein of form
Head had a mixed start to his Test career and was in and out of the team in the initial years. However, since the start of December 2021, he has been in excellent form with the willow in red-ball cricket.
In 20 Test matches during the said phase, he has smashed 1532 runs at an average of 54.71, with four hundreds.
The southpaw struck 152 against England in Brisbane (December 2021), 101 vs England in Hobart (January 2022), 175 against West Indies in Adelaide (December 2022) and 163 versus India in the WTC final at The Oval earlier this month.
