Travis Head insists that runs are runs – and his robust begin to the house summer time ought to be capable of assist cement his spot for February’s Test tour of India.
Head’s spot had appeared in probably the most doubt forward of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, after he adopted up final 12 months’s robust house summer time with a tricky 12 months in Asia.
Now averaging 56.57 after scoring his fifth Test ton towards West Indies in Adelaide on Friday, Head endured powerful excursions of Pakistan and Sri Lanka this 12 months with 91 runs at 15.16.
Coach Andrew McDonald had mentioned on the finish of these excursions they might carry extra weight than the house summer time in deciding on groups for India, given the considerably completely different situations.
But he additionally argued on the time that Head had taken some important steps ahead batting in Asia, with Usman Khawaja an instance of gamers enhancing with every tour.
Now, Head has not harm his possibilities within the first two Tests towards West Indies, with scores of 99 and 175 in Perth and Adelaide.
“Runs are runs,” Head mentioned.
“I can’t do anything until I get there and the conditions present themselves. All I can do is worry about what we’re doing at the moment.
“You cannot look too far sooner or later or look too far prior to now.
“It’s a form-based game, I guess. And all you can go by is how guys are going at the moment.
“So good to be contributing. There’s that tour developing and we’ll put together properly for it and hopefully I’m on it.”
The South Australian is, realistically, battling with Peter Handscomb for a spot in the middle order for that tour, with the Victorian in fine form to start the Sheffield Shield season.
Head had made the point in recent weeks that his form in white-ball cricket in Asia had been good, and he saw no reason why he couldn’t translate that into Test matches.
His bowling could also be a factor if selected, given he offers something slightly different to Nathan Lyon in his offspinners and is generally effective late in matches.
Head’s run of form comes after he struggled for runs in the lead up to the Test summer, at one stage going four straight first-class innings without a score above 10.
“I felt like I used to be enjoying rather well, however discovered some fascinating methods to get out in that little interval,” Head mentioned.
“It comes with expertise of enjoying and understanding it isn’t distant. You can return to performances and intervals.
“One thing I’ve been able to always do is come out of form slumps or periods of no runs.
“I do not suppose I’ve gone by way of a extremely prolonged interval with out looking for a approach to contribute in a roundabout way.”
