Other than offering a difficult chance early in his innings when Brydon Carse failed to hold on to a tough catch at backward point, Head was in scintillating form throughout.The 30-year-old left-handed opener weathered a challenging new-ball spell from Jofra Archer, who was playing his first ODI in more than a year after battling injuries, before unleashing a barrage of shots against England’s bowlers.
His 129-ball innings included 20 fours and five sixes.
Head received valuable support from Marnus Labuschagne, with whom he shared an unbroken 148-run partnership, as Australia chased down a target of 316 with six overs to spare, taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Earlier in the match, Labuschagne had also made a significant impact with the ball, claiming 3-39 as England struggled against Australia’s spin attack. Adam Zampa, celebrating his 100th ODI, also picked up 3-49. Despite opener Ben Duckett’s rapid 95, England slipped from a strong position of 213-2 to a total of 315 all out.
“It’s nice to get a hundred, it was a good night at the office,” said Player-of-the-Match Head, also a thorn in England’s side during the recent T20 series.
“It was difficult at the start,” he added. “Jof (Archer) is way too good for me…He’s an exceptionally good bowler. You’ve got to take the good with the bad…There wasn’t much in those first couple of overs, so I just tried to back my technique and tried to stay out there.”
Head also chipped in with a couple of wickets using his part-time spin on the batting-friendly Trent Bridge pitch. “Two-for as well,” he said on a lighter note. “I got a bit lucky at the start of my innings but I know if you get through that there’s a lot of runs on offer.”
Following David Warner’s retirement from Test cricket, there has been speculation about Head potentially stepping into the role of an opener in the longest format of the game. Head’s impressive 163 in the middle-order during Australia’s triumphant World Test Championship final against India last year has further fueled these discussions.
However, when questioned about the possibility of facing the new ball in Test matches, Head remained tight-lipped and did not provide any definitive answers regarding his future role in the team’s batting lineup.
“Keep the chatter: it makes it interesting,” he said. “I’m not going to dive into that. I’ll just let that play out.”
“Sometimes ‘width’ is even middle-and-off stump for him, because he creates that room so well,” explained England coach and former opener Marcus Trescothick.
Trescothick is overseeing the ODI team for this series, after which England’s Test-team coach Brendon McCullum will take over the limited-overs sides as well.
Australia’s impressive streak of 13 consecutive ODI victories, dating back to their World Cup campaign, continues unabated. This most recent triumph was accomplished without the services of their seasoned pace trio. Pat Cummins, the team’s regular captain, was given a break from the tour, while Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were unavailable for the match on Thursday due to health issues.
In the history of ODI cricket, only the legendary Australian team captained by Ricky Ponting has more consecutive victories. That celebrated squad achieved an astounding 21 back-to-back wins, setting a benchmark that remains unmatched to this day.
