Travis Head would be perfectly happy if Australia’s groundsmen left a tinge of green in the Ashes strips this summer. The left-hander has prospered on seamer-friendly surfaces at home, and he suspects another batch of brisk, moving pitches could again tilt the contest towards Australia’s quicks.
“I probably enjoy batting on those sort of wickets,” Head said. “The flatter wickets, with the grind, that more so challenge technique, I think, over longer periods of time [trying] to eke out runs has never probably come as natural to me with being a stroke player and wanting to get on with it. And the slower, flat wickets probably don’t tend to that. But fast-paced pitches that nip, you can maybe get away with a few things.
“And then obviously the way I want to play is if they present opportunities to score, you score. So when they’re greener, they pitch up a little bit more and a bit fuller, and the style that I play, if they miss a little bit, I’m able to hopefully score and get busy.”
Recent numbers back his enthusiasm. Since the start of the 2021-22 Ashes, top-order batters (positions one to seven) in Australia average just 30.22 per dismissal, with 24 hundreds across 20 Tests. Four seasons earlier the same bracket averaged 38.14 and produced 34 centuries. While run-scoring in England has gone the other way—rising from 30.90 (2018-21) to 38.94 in the post-2022 Bazball era—Australia has become a harder place for top-order players.
Head has bucked the trend better than anyone. Over the last four home summers he averages 54.64, striking at 88.90 and collecting six centuries. No other batter in the country has topped 45 in that period. Steve Smith, for example, averages 45.26 in the same window, down from the 63.20 he banked during his first decade in Test cricket.
Head’s method is simple enough: accept that, on a spicy deck, an unplayable ball may arrive, and score briskly while you can. “It’s a run-based game,” he noted. “You see some of the great players, like Steve Smith, Joe Root, you blink and they’re on 30 or 40. And that’s something that I’ve always appreciated, and definitely [on] these wickets, you know that you potentially have got one with your name on it.”
Steve Smith, who has spent the last fortnight analysing pitches on the domestic circuit, is equally aware of the fine margins. “England play pretty well on the flatter wickets, the way they play,” Smith said. “So, if there’s a bit in it like there has been the last three or four years, with our bowling attack, it certainly makes things a lot more difficult for the”.
That unfinished thought still tells a story: when Australia’s pace trio see grass and early movement, opposition batters generally feel the squeeze. Pat Cummins’ side have lost only one of their last 17 home Tests, and that came on Adelaide’s placid surface against India in 2021 when the visitors successfully chased 186.
Yet England arrive with renewed confidence. Their ultra-positive batting template has already raised overall scoring rates in England, and the coaching group believe the same intent can unsettle Australia’s quicks, even on lively pitches. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett, for instance, both favour front-foot strokes that can negate seam early if they find the middle of the bat.
Former Australia opener Chris Rogers thinks the balance may hinge on how early the Kookaburra ball stops seaming. “If the shine goes after 15 overs and the weather is hot, you can still get big runs here,” he told local radio this week. “But the first session has become far more challenging than it was 10 years ago. Batters have to accept they might have to play a few more risky strokes to keep the board moving.”
There is also quiet debate inside the Australian camp about whether extra pace from Lance Morris or left-arm angle from Mitchell Starc best complements Cummins and Josh Hazlewood on fresher surfaces. Head has no preference, simply trusting whoever is picked to make best use of any help available.
As ever, the final word is pragmatic. “Ultimately, it’s a game where you go try and score as many as you can,” Head said, shrugging off talk of averages. For him, and likely for this Ashes as a whole, the trick could be scoring them quickly before the ball does something you cannot control.
