Australia's Travis Head falls one run short of unique batting record in WTC final
Jun 08, 2023
London [UK], June 8 : Batter Travis Head on Thursday registered the second-highest score by an Australian player on a neutral venue.
Head achieved this during Australia's ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against India at The Oval.
Coming to bat at 76/3, Head unleashed a counter-attack and scored 163 in 174 balls. His knock had 25 fours and a six.
Warren Bardsley has the highest score by an Australian batter on a neutral venue having scored 164 against South Africa at The Lord's in 1912.
Head also had a 285-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Steve Smith (121), which is the fourth-biggest partnership for Australia against India for any wicket.
The biggest partnership by an Australian pair against India is a 386-run stand between Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke back in 2012. Clarke was also involved in an unbeaten 334 stand with Michael Hussey in 2012 at Sydney. In the same series, Ponting and Clarke also put on stand of 288 runs.
The opener has currently scored 1,371 runs in WTC 2021-23 cycle at an average of 57.12. In 27 innings, he has smashed four centuries and six fifties, with best score of 175. He is currently the sixth-highest scorer in this cycle and fourth-highest for Aussies behind Usman Khawaja (1,608), Marnus Labuschagne (1,535) and Steve Smith (1,373). The highest run-scorer in the 2021-23 cycle is Joe Root of England (1,915 runs).
Head also completed 2,500 runs in Test cricket. In 37 Tests and 58 innings, he has scored 2,524 runs at an average of 47.62. He has smashed six centuries and 13 fifties, with the best score of 175.
Despite a comeback by Indian pacers, Australia strengthened their position in the WTC final after dismissing both Indian openers in the second session of the second day of the 'Ultimate Test' at The Oval on Thursday.
At Tea, India's score read 37/2, with Cheteshwar Pujara (3*) and Virat Kohli (4*) unbeaten. Australia scored 469 runs in the first innings.
