Australian batter Travis Head lived to the level of consistency after being suddenly asked to take to open the innings for Australia following an injury to Usman Khawaja, who was ruled out during the second innings of the Perth Test last November.
Head is naturally a destructive middle-order batter in Test cricket, however when he was asked to take up the challenge in the highly competitive Ashes he completely flipped the script of the Ashes, playing composed knocks. He smoked a blistering innings of 123 off 83 balls to carry Australia to victory in the opening Test inside two days.
That innings helped him have a remarkable series. He continued to attack England bowlers throughout the series and added two more centuries to his tally, finishing as the leading run-scorer of the series with 629 runs. Despite all the sparkling success, Head feels he is not a true opening batter in a traditional sense.
"I don't know exact stats, but what have I played: 170, 180 first-class games. I might have opened in ten [12] of them. I think it would suggest that I'm not an opening batter, a true opening batter, [in terms of] what Australian cricket is known [for], I guess. Guys that have come through the grades opening the batting and played state cricket opening batting, and played Test cricket as opening batters,” Head told Cricinfo.
Head admitted that he can play a role at the top.
"I think my game is conducive to playing well. I feel like I can do a role at the top. I'm at the top, but it's not [as] that true opening batter, if that makes sense. I know that I've still got to work continuously hard at the new ball. I know I'm going to make mistakes. That's okay. I'm very comfortable with where my game's at,” he said.
Australia are set to face Bangladesh in a two-Test series, beginning on August 13 in Darwin.