Travis Head willing to bat at any position for Australia during Champions Trophy

Australian batsman Travis Head said he was confident of fulfilling any role for his side during the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. Head showed glimpses of brilliance en route his unbeaten 85 against Sri Lanka in the first warm-up game. His knock came at an impressive strike rate of 116.43 and helped the current world champions gun down a target of 319 with 2 balls to spare.

Head’s innings reminded cricket aficionados of Australian greats such as Michael Bevan and Michael Hussey, both prolific middle order batsmen who often played the role of a finisher for Australia. The 23-year-old could also open for the Aussies, as he did successfully against Pakistan in January. However, after Aaron Finch’s destructive 137 which set up the victory for Australia in the warm-up game, the team management might stick to the opening combination of Warner and Finch.

The left-hander shared that he would be comfortable batting anywhere in the top six and is open to being flexible as far as his batting position is concerned.

Nice to get runs

“It was nice to get runs but as I keep saying, I’m adaptable, so one to six doesn’t faze me, as long as I’m playing cricket for Australia. It was nice to be there at the end. I’ve had a few opportunities to do the same thing and I haven’t been able to. It’s pleasing to get out there and make a few runs and spend some time out in the middle,” Head shared after the game.

Apart from Finch and Head, other batsmen couldn’t make any sizable contributions to the outcome of the game. Steve Smith opted not to bat and instead chose to let other batsmen have a go. Australia’s pace attack was also taken apart; James Pattinson making a comeback to the Australian squad went for 80 while Josh Hazlewood leaked 26 runs off his last 6 deliveries and ended up giving away 69 from 10 overs.

Healthy contributions from skipper Angelo Mathews and Asela Gunaratne lower down the order powered Sri Lanka to 318 in the first innings. Australia were never drastically behind the asking rate, but lost wickets at regular intervals. Head however stuck in there and took his team through in the final over of the match.

“They batted extremely well at the end,” he said of Sri Lanka.

“We tried a few different things and were able to experiment and try some different plans. But in the end it was the perfect chase and it was nice to get it in the end. It’s nice to not have the pressure (with) it being a warm-up game, but you still want to win the game so there was pressure there,” Head shared.

Australia will take on neighbours New Zealand in their opening game of the Champions Trophy on June 2 at Edgbaston.