High-scoring Head on the good, the bad, and the Baz

Travis Head concedes he feels much more at peace with the world leading into this week's first NRMA Insurance Test against South Africa than was the case a year ago, immediately prior to the Ashes series opener.

It's barely 12 months since Head found himself locked in a media-trumpeted 'bat off' against fellow left-hander Usman Khawaja that reached its zenith in a Marsh Sheffield Shield game between Head's South Australia and Khawaja's Queensland a fortnight before the blitz of England began.

The pair were pushing for the middle-order vacancy created by incumbent Matthew Wade's omission, as selectors also grappled with the need to appoint a new skipper and keeper after Tim Paine suddenly stood down from both roles.

History shows Head not only won the battle for the number five batting berth – his case aided by a lone-hand hundred in SA's second innings of that Shield encounter against Queensland – but also plundered a stunning century in the subsequent Test, setting up a summer in which he was named player of the Ashes series.

"It was a see-sawing week for a few reasons, whether or not I was playing or not playing, and who was going to be picked between me and Uz," Head told cricket.com.au in Brisbane this week.

'It's been a lot more relaxed three days heading into this Test compared to last year.

"There was just so much chat around that, obviously heightened by fact it was an Ashes series.

"It was a helluva four or five days leading into that Test match, and then to start the way we did as a team and personally was fantastic.

"I've had some pleasing results here in Test cricket, and I know how nice the wicket can be in Test cricket – it's vastly different to Shield cricket."

It's safe to assume Head would not be quite so relaxed if the pitch awaiting at the Gabba bore similarities to those on which he's faced Queensland's rampant seam attack in Shield matches over the past decade.

In 16 innings for South Australia at the ground stretching back to 2011-12, Head has averaged 16.69 with a highest score of 68 and three ducks.

But due to Covid restrictions and his return to international ranks in both Test and ODI formats, he hasn't come up against the Bulls in Brisbane since 2019 and has learned and achieved much during that time.

Most notably, Head has blazed a reputation as one of the most damaging and influential number five batters in the Test game having carved quick-fire centuries against England at Brisbane and Hobart, and even more destructive knocks of 99 and 175 in the recent two-match series against West Indies.

In an era when the rules of engagement for the five-day game are being hastily redrawn, Head's Test scoring rate of 80.5 runs per 100 balls faced since being recalled for the Ashes opener a year ago (among batters to have scored 500 or above in that time) is bettered only by India's one-man whirlwind Rishabh Pant (90.7).

Furthermore, with a career strike rate of 63.31 from his 31 innings at number five, he sits among esteemed company in terms of batters who can take on the game and alter its complexion from that pivotal middle-order berth.

Of the 75 players to have scored 1000 runs or more for their Test nations at number five, only England's Jonny Bairstow (65.17), Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan (65.40), West Indies great Viv Richards (66.71) and New Zealand skipper turned England Test coach Brendon McCullum (74.85) have done so at a greater clip.

Of course, McCullum has won further worldwide acclaim in recent months for the 'Baz Ball' style of Test cricket England has adopted, which saw them plunder more than 500 runs on the opening day against Pakistan at Rawalpindi earlier this month.

Head is quick to disavow any suggestion the rate at which he's scored in Tests played at home over the past year is part of any pre-conceived plan or an attempt by Australia to institute their own version of 'Baz Ball'.

"I guess it's looked like there's a bit of a role there, but I haven't seen it that way and it hasn't been communicated that way," Head said when asked if he had been granted specific licence to take down opposition bowlers.

"I've been going out, playing the way I want to play and summing up the conditions.

"I've also been in some pretty good situations to take the game on, having been presented with opportunities to score because of the platform laid by guys further up the order.

"Moving the game forward is the way I've always tried to play, and I've always enjoyed playing that way.

"It comes naturally, so I think what we've seen over the last little bit since I got back in the (Test) team is a bit more of my natural game plus having the confidence to be able to go out and execute it.

"It also helps that the fundamentals around my technique are all sound at the moment, which gives you the added confidence to play the game on your own terms."

Not that Head's most recent coming as a Test cricketer is built solely around all-out attack.

He points to the rescue mission he and Marnus Labuschagne mounted on day one of last week's NRMA Insurance Test in Adelaide, where two quick strikes by the West Indies saw Australia delicately balanced at 3-131 an hour into the second session.

That was the point at which rival skipper Kraigg Brathwaite opted for a dual spin attack of himself and Roston Chase and, rather than try and take them on, Head bided his time and focused on finding gaps in compiling 30 from 40 balls before the dinner break, after which he cut loose.

Head knows far more potent spin bowling awaits in India where Australia play a four-Test series in February-March next year, but he feels better placed to tackle that challenge even though he averaged just 15 (with a highest score of 26) across five Tests on spin-friendly tracks in Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier this year.

"Spin is something I've worked a fair bit on over the years," he said.

"I look at one-day cricket for example, where I probably got bogged down against it a bit early in my career but I felt like I went away and worked on a few things, developed those and got a bit more confidence.

"And with a couple of series away in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, I've been able to work on a few more things."

There's also a couple of other new learnings that await him over coming days.

The first is the state of the Gabba pitch which the Australia players are yet to see given their pre-Test training has thus far been conducted at Allan Border Field, almost 10km across the other side of the Brisbane River.

The second is a South Africa attack which he's never before faced in Test cricket, but he knows will present a vastly different proposition to the mostly medium-pace of the West Indies.

"It's going to be a nice challenge," he said.

"I can take a lot of confidence from last year, against a high-quality England bowling attack and I feel my technique is in a similar, if not better place from where it was last year.

"I'm going to be tested, and I know it's not always going to pan out how it has in the last two or three hits where I've played really well.

"I know the good is going to come with the bad sometimes, but hopefully there's more good over the next three weeks than there is bad."

What Head can definitively rule out is any pre-meditated 'Baz Ball' tactics, though he acknowledges he's seen some of the recent England-Pakistan series on television and read cursorily about McCullum's philosophy and how his players are implementing it.

"I have only seen bits and pieces of it, and I gather some of the descriptions are a bit tongue-in-cheek," he said.

"But what I do know is that England changed the game in one-day cricket three or four years ago when they made a concerted effort to try and break the barriers in that format, and it worked.

"So you've got to respect what they're doing at the moment – they're trying to break the barriers of Test cricket.

"They're trying to find a brand or a method they think will win as much Test cricket as possible, and every team goes about that in completely different ways whether it's 'Baz Ball' or whatever.

"Whether they can consistently do what they did in the one-day format, I guess we just have to wait and see."

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

Dec 17-21: First Test, Gabba, 11.20am AEDT

Dec 26-30: Second Test, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo

Buy #AUSvSA Test tickets here