Travis Head refused to buy into speculation about his place in the Test side but said he was happy for the “chatter” to continue after leading Australia to their highest successful ODI chase in England.
Head was at his belligerent best in smashing a career-best 154 not out to underpin Australia’s chase of 316 to win the first one-day international against England and gain a 13th straight victory in the 50-over format.
It was the left-handed opener’s sixth ODI century — and his first since a similarly brutal knock of 137 in Australia’s victory over India in the World Cup final 10 months ago.
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The tourists needed a big innings from someone after Ben Duckett hit 95 in England’s 315 all out at Trent Bridge, a ground known for being a batter’s paradise with short boundaries.
England would have hoped for more after being 2-211 after 32 overs, only for Australia’s spinners — including part-time slow bowler Marnus Labuschagne (3-39) — to slow down the run rate and take nine wickets in total, many at crucial times. England’s final seven wickets fell for 83 runs, with Head even getting involved with two of the wickets.
Head then let rip with with the bat, hitting 20 fours and five sixes as Australia strolled to 3-317 and a seven-wicket victory with six overs remaining. It was the highest individual score by an Australian in England and bettered his 152 against the English in Melbourne in November 2022, further enhancing his status as one of the world’s best and most destructive white-ball batters.
His form in the limited form of the game has sparked calls for Head to be parachuted into the top of the order at Test level alongside Usman Khawaja, with speculation mounting that Steve Smith won’t be there to partner him when Australia plays India in five Tests this summer.
Head was given a chance in the Test opener’s spot on the three-Test tour of India last year, averaging 55 over his five innings. His top score was 90 in his final dig as opener in Ahmedabad.
Khawaja said Head might be “best suited” for the role, with Smith to move back to No.4 in the order.
“He’s obviously been very successful opening the batting in one-day cricket and, breaking it down, I’d probably lean towards him,” Khawaja said.
But the ODI star did not publicly call for a shot at opening in Test cricket, although he didn’t mind it being a topic of conversation.
“Keep the chatter: it makes it interesting,” he said after massive win.
“I’m not going to dive into that. I’ll just let that play out.”
He added: “I’ve worked extremely hard over a few years and I probably play the game a bit more relaxed now,” Head said. “I take it for what it is and try to enjoy what I’m doing. It’s coming off in the way I’m playing.”
To celebrate his century, Head perched his helmet on the top of his bat handle and raised it to the sky. He was there at the end to see Australia over the line in a record run chase in the UK.
Labuschagne was there, too — just like he was in that World Cup final run chase in Ahmedabad — and posted an unbeaten 61-ball 77.
In England’s innings, Will Jacks hit 62 for his third half-century in eight ODIs, and Australia’s lead spinner Adam Zampa had 3-49 off 10 overs in his 100th ODI.
“We were eyeing up a big score, for sure,” England stand-in captain Harry Brook said. “It wasn’t meant to be. It was difficult there in the middle against the spinners, we probably didn’t rotate the strike as well as we wanted and we ended up getting a below-par score in the end.”
The second ODI of the five-match series between the fierce cricket rivals is at Headingley on Sunday (AEST) and Australia will hope to have senior players Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell available, after they missed out in Nottingham because of illness.
The Australians are set to be without pacer Ben Dwarshuis, who was making his ODI debut but sustained a suspected pectoral strain while throwing off-balance from the boundary during England’s innings and went off injured.
Dwarshuis had only bowled four overs to that point and never returned to the field. His absence was part of the reason why Australia bowled only spin for the last 18 overs of England’s innings — and the ploy worked.
“The longer the innings went on, we thought pace off was the better option,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. “It was a gut feel and the way we bowled, especially our part-timers, was fantastic.”