Travis tweaks his Test ambitions

Travis Head knows he's being spoken about as a potential solution to Australia's Test cricket woes in Asia, and he is unapologetic about his ambition to pull on the Baggy Green cap.

But the 22-year-old, who last summer captained South Australia to their first Sheffield Shield final in a generation, also acknowledges that he has much to prove in the six months before Australia's Test players once again set foot on the subcontinent.

And that applies as much, if not more, to his developing off-spin bowling as to the aggressive middle-order batting that has seen him pencilled in as one of those young guns who might bring a fresh perspective to the way Australians play in alien Asian conditions.

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Among the many areas in which Sri Lanka had it over their more fancied opponents during their historic 3-0 Test whitewash was their use of batting allrounders who could also be relied on to bowl crucial overs of more-than-tidy finger spin.

And take vital wickets, as was shown by 24-year-old Dhananjaya de Silva in the third Test in Colombo where he scored a classy century batting at number seven in just his third Test appearance and then opened the bowling with his off-spin, picking up the prized wicket of David Warner in his second over.

Head, whose 14 first-class wickets at 68 indicates he's further from de Silva than a bulk of Australia's Olympic athletes, played as SA's frontline spinner at the end of the previous domestic summer, including the Shield final.

But in the lead-up to tomorrow's second ODI against Sri Lanka at Colombo's Premadasa Stadium, he indicated that one of the reasons he was plucked from a stint with English county Yorkshire to join the Australia squad prior to the third Test was to grant him additional bowling practice on subcontinental pitches.

"I think I'm pretty raw still with my bowling, and that's probably helped me coming over here (a fortnight ago) that I've probably learned the style that the Sri Lankans have been bowling their spin," Head said today.

"I haven't come in with a certain way of going about things, I'm pretty open minded on my bowling.

"I just want to try and (adapt to) the conditions as best as possible and if that can get me selected as a second-string to my batting.

"I'm there to make runs and if I can come in and do a job with the ball that's a positive, and that's what I'm heading towards.

"So that I can be a genuine option, because I played last year at home in the summer as number one (spinner for SA) but probably wasn't ready for that role.

"I took it on and did an OK job, but I think leading into the season if I can do as much bowling as possible and make myself a genuine spinner, that's my goal."

The notion, which skipper Steve Smith acknowledged contained merit, that Australia's disastrous winless Test streak in Asia stretching back five years might be remedied by selecting players with a mode of batting that is innately suited to subcontinental pitches has seen Head's named increasingly mentioned as a future Test player.

He admits his red-ball experience on subcontinent pitches has been limited to the unofficial 'Test' he played for Australia A against India A at Chennai last year, in which he scored 31 in the first innings and 50 in the second batting at number three.

In a match where other potential subcontinent tourists Cameron Bancroft, Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis were the only other Australia batters to post a half-century.

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But over the past 12 months, during which he made a name for himself with several eye-catching innings in the KFC Big Bash League, Head has been part of the IPL extravaganza, Australia's successful ODI tri-series campaign in the Caribbean, a blazing if brief county stint and now an extended exposure to Sri Lanka.

That is likely to broaden further in the remaining four ODI fixtures and the pair of T20 Internationals to follow (assuming he's in that squad, expected to be named tomorrow).

However, it is the results that he posts on his return to Adelaide as SA aim to go one better than their second-placed Sheffield Shield finish last summer that will effectively determine whether he makes the cut for the Test squad to tour India in February and March.

Or even before that, given the arrival of the new number one Test team – Pakistan – for a three-match series in Australia in December and January.

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"It's a positive that you get talked about to play Test cricket, and that's what I want to do," said Head, who gleaned much from the week he spent with the Test squad before and during Australia's ultimately unsuccessful third Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo's SSC Ground.

"That's my ambition.

"I think I've had limited opportunities – I've played one four-day game in India when I was there last and I got two starts.

"And I had a good game plan, pretty similar to how I played the other night (in the first ODI in Colombo (where he scored 10 from 17 balls on a raging spin pitch).

"I'm always going to be positive and aggressive, but it's a long way away that Test series (in India).

"I've got to have a big summer, I've got to get runs on the board and I think that's the main issue with everyone in the summer.

"Getting Shield runs, we've seen blokes put on a lot of runs, I probably haven't done it as consistently yet so I think it's a big 12 months for me.

"If I want to get in the Test side I've got to get a lot of runs in four-day cricket.

"I feel really comfortable, I feel confident, which is a positive I guess having only played two games of (ODI) cricket for Australia.

"But I feel like I'm there or thereabouts."