Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad, the fifth-highest wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket, has come forward to hand down a secret mantra to stop Travis Head after the Australian batsman single-handedly crushed England’s hopes of an early lead in the Ashes series.
Travis Head proved there is a difference between the two teams during the first Test between Australia and England at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Australia has maintained a 100% winning streak in this WTC so far with 4 wins in 4 matches.
In difficult batting conditions, Travis Head was sent in as the opening batsman by captain Steve Smith as Australia had to chase 205 to win the first Test. Head defeated the English bowlers by playing a brilliant inning of 123 runs.
Travis Head gets bored of taking singles and tries to do something outrageous and may be out – Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad, England’s second-highest wicket-taker in the history of red-ball cricket, has suggested that England’s fast bowlers should aim to frustrate Travis Head and get him out by asking him to do things differently.
“What they could do when Travis Head was really going is you have to use your awareness to say, ‘Let’s take him off strike, let him face one ball per over and it’s a clip off his hip and he gets one and you don’t let him face four, five balls and he hits a four in them,'” Broad told Australian radio station SEN.
“And importantly, when you take him off strike, Marnus Labuschagne comes to the front end, you bowl dots at him and put pressure on him.
“Suddenly, you do that for forty minutes, and Travis Head gets bored of taking singles and tries to do something outrageous and might get out. That’s what England could have done a bit better. Yes, we love to see this aggressive game, and it’s always a positive option to look at.
“But sometimes, the positive option is to cut out whatever is going on to give Travis Head something different to try. You can’t let him keep pounding it for hours and get 120 off 80 balls. I think England could have done it a little differently.”
This is the first time that I saw that Ben Stokes had no tactical answer on the pitch – Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad noted that this was the first time he had seen the England captain under so much pressure and without any proper strategic plan. He further said that with a gap until the second Test in Brisbane, captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum will have to come up with new strategies.
Stuart Broad said of Head’s brilliant innings in Perth, “This is the first time that I have seen Ben Stokes not have any strategic answers on the pitch.” “And that means full credit to what he (Travis Head) was able to do. When I thought what England could have done, it came as a shock.
Stuart Broad said, “He has set his mindset to bring Travis Head in at No. 5. He opens the batting because Usman Khawaja has back spasms. So, the plan is already over. Now you have a new ball. ‘Okay, what’s the plan to bring in a brand new ball for Travis Head? We haven’t even discussed that in this series’, so you’re a bit worried.”
England has released three players from its Ashes team
After the first match ended within just 2 days, the England team released some of its players from the squad to participate in the upcoming two-day event against the Prime Minister’s XI.
England have released all-rounder batsman Jacob Bethell and fast bowlers Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue ahead of their second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.
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