Travis Head has accused Australia’s golden generation of being unfair in “putting a bullet through” current players, saying the game has changed significantly since they played. Just a day after Matthew Hayden slammed selectors and accused them of promoting “the greatest pile of mediocrity” after calling up Nic Maddinson, Head took his own stand in South Africa. Australia’s vice-captain refused to make reference to particular critics or comments, but took issue with commentary around the team’s batting at a time when averages have dropped worldwide.
Head also noted the current side had been through a “sticky situation” with the group of past players, in a clear nod to Justin Langer’s dramatic exit as coach in 2022. Some of them need a job, so they go after us and that’s totally fine. This group is strong enough to deal with those sort of things.
Australia have remained the No 1 team in the world for the vast majority of that period, winning a World Test Championship and keeping hold of the Ashes. We play for the same cause. We have huge respect for it.
While critics have pointed to the drop in averages coinciding with the rise of T20 cricket, Head pointed to conditions as a major factor. He used Darren Lehmann’s record Sheffield Shield runs tally as an example of the changes, with the top 10 in history all playing across the turn of the century. In the time since, wickets have become harder to bat on and more drop-in pitches have been used, to the point where Cricket Australia have now asked curators to err more towards batters.
We’ve got a lot of stats that suggest that the ball’s doing a lot more.” Head also said he would continue to open the batting in South Africa, and indicated he was miffed by some of the commentary around whether he should stay there.
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