Travis Head’s hundred came from the great entertainer. Steve Smith’s was of more biblical proportions.
As Head brought joy to a sold-out Gabba on the second day of the third Test against India, Smith completed his long and tiring trek through cricket’s barren lands.
Head has now blazed successive hundreds against India, this time 152 from 160 balls, and the crowd partied as if Christmas had come early.
For Smith, his hundred after the physical and emotional strain of his worst stretch in a stunning career with few peers was more like redemption at midnight mass.
It’s as if the crowd willed him to salvation and then rejoiced as one when he turned a single behind square leg to bring up his 33rd century and quite possibly his most difficult. His previous hundred was at Lord’s during June last year, 25 innings ago.
Then it appeared he had nothing more to give. Drained after reaching the promised land, he nicked off to Jasprit Bumrah for 101 in 190 balls.
Head and Smith dragged Australia from 3-75, adding 241 inside 50 overs to ensure Australia’s dominant position as they romped past 400 at stumps.
The high risk, high reward Head of all people has finally brought some consistency to Australia’s hit and miss batting line-up, managing what no Australian has done in a long time.
Combined with his rearguard 89 as Australia sunk without trace during the first Test in Perth, Head’s 140 in Adelaide which set up a 10-wicket win, and his joyous 152 on Sunday, made it the first time an Australian has passed 50 on three successive occasions for two years.
Travis Head. (Photo by Matt Roberts – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Add to that the 163 Head scored against India in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June last year to set the game up for Australia, and he has completely dominated the top-ranked Test team.
Then there is the history-making matter of his 137 off 120 balls to win Australia the World Cup final against India in Ahmedabad last year.
But Test cricket was proving a more different proposition of late. His 11 in the opening innings of the first Test this summer was the 18th time in 19 innings he had failed to reach 50 around the century he made in Adelaide against the West Indies last season.
Head hasn’t strung together three successive scores of 50 or better in almost six years, when he made 84, 161 and 59 not out during a long forgotten tour by Sri Lanka almost six years ago. That series has left recently recalled NSW batter Kurtis Patterson with the highest batting average in Test history, 144. He played two Tests.
The contrast between the supremely confident Head, 31 later this month, and the shadow-boxing Smith, 35, could not have been greater.
Head batted with free arms and ferocious power to dismantle a tiring attack. Smith’s natural instincts fought against an out of synch body where arms, legs and bat would not work in unison.
Travis Head celebrates with Steve Smith in Brisbane. (Photo by Albert Perez – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
The trademark step across his crease which Smith abandoned when he was leg before wicket to Bumrah for a first-ball duck during the opening innings of the series in Perth was back in exaggerated fashion.
But there were inside edges and half hits into the leg side for singles where once he would have flicked the ball effortlessly through the field to the boundary.
Smith’s half-century came up in 128 balls with four fours. Head’s 100 took 115 balls with 13 fours. But some of Smith’s old magic returned as the conditions improved from an overcast start, with the ball ageing and bowlers tiring. His next 50 took just 57 balls with eight of his 12 fours as he began to flow.
When the 100 partnership came up Head had made 65 of them. When they crossed 200 Head was 123 and Smith 86.
Smith’s hundred broke his longest run without three figures in an incredible career which has seen him compile 9805 runs at 56.35.
The last Australian to manage three successive scores above 50 was Marnus Labuschagne when he made three successive centuries against the West Indies two seasons ago.
Steve Smith. (Photo by Albert Perez – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
But Labuschagne has been one of Australia’s greatest strugglers since – his 111 in Manchester to save the fourth Ashes Test midway through last year was his last hundred. In the 20 innings since, he has passed 50 five times and has a top score of 16 in the 15 other innings.
His 12 on Sunday, flirting carelessly outside the off stump again, suggested the important 64 he scored in Adelaide last week may have been an aberration given that the 12 was his third highest score in his past 12 innings.
And what of Usman Khawaja, who battled hard in the most difficult conditions before Bumrah, the world’s highest ranked bowler, had him caught behind for 21? Khawaja has gone 28 innings without a century and 11 without a half century.
Turning 38 on Wednesday, the gifted left-hander will be searching for the same emotional relief as Smith.
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments