“It's a specialist job,” Travis Head rules himself out for opening role in Test cricket

Australia will have big shoes to fill at the top as David Warner is set to retire from Test cricket.

By Salman Anjum - 12 Dec, 2023

Australia batter Travis Head reckons opening the batting in Test cricket is a "specialist job" and has ruled himself out for a permanent switch.

After the impending Test series against Pakistan, Australia will have big shoes to fill at the top as David Warner will bid adieu to the longest format of the game. However, Head clarified that he is not one of the few competing for that spot.

During the Test tour of India earlier this year, Head had filled in for an ailing Warner. The southpaw counterattacked the new ball to average 55.75 over five innings.

However, Head is happy to bat in the middle order, where his swashbuckling hitting has thrived over the last two years. He believes Warner's successors would emerge from the fringes, including Cameron Bancroft, Matthew Renshaw and Marcus Harris.

"[Selectors and team are] happy with me in the middle order," Head told reporters before the first Test against Pakistan in Perth.

"I think it's a specialist job. The guys that have been waiting to get into the team for a while deserve the first crack at it. But the conversations are ongoing with everyone...only one for me is [taking the opening role] the subcontinent. I don't see myself moving around too much in the future," he added.

Travis Head is yet to establish himself in the T20I side, and he recently stayed in India after the Cricket World Cup to take part in the last three T20Is instead of returning home to play the Sheffield Shield.

"I'm not a lock for that T20 World Cup, so I wanted to present and try to perform and try and get myself in that team. We felt like that was the greater opportunity to play the three T20s [than Shield]. We haven't got many T20 opportunities coming up over the next little bit, so it was sort of that last chance to press my claims to make sure that I'm in the mix," Head said.

(With ANI Inputs)

By Salman Anjum - 12 Dec, 2023

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