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Aussies take safe option yet again with Head opening but Konstas should not be losing his spot at top of the order

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Australia have yet again made the conservative call by elevating Travis Head to opener at the expense of Sam Konstas for the first Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

They are looking after today while not worrying about tomorrow.

Stand-in skipper Steve Smith told reporters in Galle at his media conference on the eve of the match that Konstas could still get a start in the middle order although Nathan McSweeney and Josh Inglis are also in the mix with the uncapped Western Australian keeper-batter looking like he will get the nod.

The Australians made an investment in Konstas as potentially their next long-term opener by selecting the teenager in the final two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

He’s got more than a few rough edges but his brilliant 60 first up on Boxing Day which befuddled an Indian attack led by the world’s best bowler should have been enough to prove to the selectors that there’s something special in this young prospect.

Sam Konstas celebrates his 50 on debut. (Photo by Daniel Pockett – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

He threw his wicket away after making it into the 20s in Sydney but all the talk from the Australian camp afterwards that they were happy with his aggressive approach.

They pick him for the Sri Lanka tour and now they tell him that he is not worthy of another start at the top of the order.

Even if they retain him in the side as a middle-order option, what is the point of that?

Usman Khawaja, who has had a lean time of it with the bat, is entering the final 12 months of his decorated career and will be long retired by the time Australia make their next tour to the subcontinent when they try to defend their newly acquired Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India at the start of 2027.

As much as you can be sure of anything two years out from the start of the series, the Aussies clearly believe Head is their best bet as an opener on the turning tracks in this part of the world and are planning for him to fill that role again.

Not selecting Konstas is a slap in the face to the talented right-hander and it also means that whoever does replace Khawaja at the top of the order will know that whenever a tour to the subcontinent is on the horizon, they will be in a Hunger Games battle with their opening partner for the right to partner Head against the new ball.

Head was impressive when elevated to opener for the injured David Warner in India two years ago, hitting a couple of brisk 40s and 90 on a featherbed at Ahmedabad to average 55.75 runs in the role.

“He did really nicely in India against the new ball. He put spinners under pressure immediately and we know how well he hits the seam as well if they come with that,” Smith told reporters on Tuesday.

“It’s going to be good fun watching him.”

Smith tried to soften the blow for Konstas with some cold comfort of there’s always plenty of time to have a hit in the nets.

“He’s going to have a lot of practice over here if he doesn’t play, which in itself is great for development,” he added. “I only have to think back to 2013, where I didn’t play the first few Tests [in India] and just the amount of balls I was hitting in the nets and the skills I was able to develop from facing loads of net bowlers.

“So whether he plays or not it’ll be a wonderful experience for him.”

Head has also struggled big time in the middle order on raging turners – his trip to Sri Lanka in 2022 where both matches were also played at Galle like this upcoming series yielded just 23 runs from three innings, falling to spin on all three occasions.

So there is some method to the madness of weakening the No.5 position to strengthen another one but it’s a short-sighted move.

Does this mean that for the rest of Head’s career he is a middle-order player except when the pitch is a bunsen burner, wherever that is in the world?

He’s lucky he doesn’t play in the previous generation before drop-in wickets created homogeny in Australian conditions otherwise he would have had to open in Sydney then return to the middle order at other venues.

Whether he was playing mind games with the media, trying to throw Sri Lanka off the scent or he simply had not been told, Head on Monday told reporters that “I don’t know where I’m going to bat at this stage” and “we’ll see how that wicket plays out over the next couple of days”.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 15: Travis Head of Australia plays a shot during day two of the Third Test match in the series between Australia and India at The Gabba on December 15, 2024 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts - CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

Travis Head. (Photo by Matt Roberts – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

He also signalled the option of switching the batting order on the run during a Test if conditions change drastically over the course of the five days. “Why can’t we be flexible? What moves? How can we be brave?”

The brave call would have been to back Konstas in two matches that are essentially a chance to build for the future given Australia have already qualified for the World Test Championship final.

Whether he ends up getting a start at five or misses the final XI altogether, the decision to remove him from his preferred opening slot is the kind of dent to the confidence that can have lasting effects on a player’s career.

There was plenty said and written a couple of months ago on the 10th anniversary of the Phillip Hughes tragedy, and one of the recurring themes was how the selectors at the time did him a disservice by dropping him after just two Tests of the 2009 Ashes.

They overthought the situation, believing that Hughes would benefit from not having to face the onslaught of the England pace attack so early in his career even though he had just peeled off a breathtaking century pair of centuries in his second Test against an attack featuring Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini in South Africa.

History has repeated with the Aussies again being presented with the gift of a batting prodigy who could be a world-beater in Konstas but telling him to bide his time when the much smarter option would have been to back him to make the most of his precocious talent.


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